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OUTING  ADVENTURE   LIBRARY 

ADRIFT 

IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

From  the  History  of  the  First 
U.  S.  Grinnell  Expedition  in 
Search  of  Sir  John  Franklin 

By  ELISHA  KENT  KANE,  M.D. 

EDITED  BY 

HORACE  KEPHART 


NEW  YORK 
OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MCMXVI 


Copyright,   1915,  by 
OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

All  rights  reserved. 


INTRODUCTION 

IT  was  in  the  summer  of  1845  that  Sir 
John  Frankhn  undertook  his  fourth 
voyage    into    the    Arctic    regions,    in 
search  of  a  northwest  passage,  and  dis- 
appeared forever  in  that  icy  waste. 

Frankhn's  two  ships,  the  Erehus  and  the 
Terror,  were  supposed  to  be  provisioned  for 
three  years.  When  this  interval  had  passed 
without  word  of  the  daring  navigator  there 
was  grave  fear  that  he  had  met  with  disaster. 
Then  began  an  unparalleled  series  of  search 
and  relief  expeditions,  public  and  private, 
English  and  American:  five  separate  ones 
in  1848,  three  in  1849,  ten  in  1850,  two  in 
1851,  nine  in  1852,  five  in  1853,  two  in  1854, 
one  in  1855,  and  one  in  1857. 

Among  the  earliest  of  these  was  one  from 
the  United  States,  known  as  the  first  Grin- 
nell  expedition,  which  left  New  York  in 
May,  1848.  Lady  Franklin  had  appealed 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 

7 


ivi317339 


8  INTRODUCTION 

enlist  his  countrymen  as  a  "kindred  people, 
to  join  heart  and  hand  in  the  enterprize  of 
snatching  the  lost  navigators  from  a  dreary 
grave."  Accordingly  a  bill  was  introduced 
in  Congress  to  fit  out  an  expedition  for  this 
purpose;  but  the  process  of  legislation  was 
too  slow  to  provide  vessels  and  equipment  in 
the  short  time  that  was  left  for  such  a  ven- 
ture. 

At  this  juncture  a  New  York  merchant, 
Henry  Grinnell,  outfitted  two  of  his  own 
vessels  for  the  service  and  proffered  them 
gratuitously  to  our  government.  They 
were  at  once  accepted  under  a  joint  resolu- 
tion of  Congress,  and  the  President  was 
authorized  to  detail  officers  and  men  from 
the  navy  to  man  the  ships. 

This  little  squadron  comprised  the  Ad- 
vance,  of  144  tons,  and  the  Bescue,  of  91 
tons,  carrying,  respectively,  seventeen  and 
sixteen  officers  and  crew.  The  expedition 
was  under  command  of  Lieut.  Edwin  J.  De 
Haven. 

The  senior  medical  officer  was  Dr.  Elisha 
Kent  Kane,  who  was  destined  later  (1853) 
himself  to  lead  a  second  Grinnell  expedition 


INTRODUCTION  9 

on  this  same  quest.  In  the  present  instance, 
Dr.  Kane  states  that  "while  bathing  in  the 
tepid  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico"  he  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  Washington  detach- 
ing him  from  the  Coast  Survey  and  order- 
ing him  to  proceed  forthwith  to  New  York 
for  duty  upon  the  Arctic  expedition.  Al- 
though he  made  the  overland  trip  of  thirteen 
hundred  miles  with  all  possible  despatch,  he 
had  only  a  fraction  of  a  day  left  in  New 
York  in  which  to  equip  himself  for  service 
in  the  polar  seas.  It  fell  to  him  to  be  not 
only  chief  surgeon  and  scientific  observer  of 
the  expedition,  but  also  its  historian. 

In  view  of  the  elaborate  scientific  methods 
of  outfitting  for  arctic  exploration  in  our 
own  day,  it  is  interesting  to  contrast  the 
vessels  and  equipment  hurriedly  assembled 
for  a  venture  into  the  Far  North  at  a  time 
when  so  little  was  known  of  that  inhospit- 
able region.  Dr.  Kane  says:  "It  was  not, 
perhaps,  to  be  expected  that  an  expedition 
equipped  so  hastily  as  ours,  and  with  one 
engrossing  object,  should  have  facilities  for 
observing  very  accurately,  or  go  out  of  its 
way  to  find  matters  for  curious  research. 


10  INTRODUCTION 

But  even  the  routine  of  a  national  ship 
might,  I  was  confident,  allow  us  to  gather 
something  for  the  stock  of  general  knowl- 
edge. With  the  assistance  of  Professor 
Loomis,  I  collected  as  I  could  some  simple 
instruments  for  thermal  and  magnetic  reg- 
istration, which  would  have  been  of  use  if 
they  had  found  their  way  on  board.  A 
very  few  books  for  the  dark  hours  of  win- 
ter, and  a  stock  of  coarse  woolen  clothing, 
re-enforced  by  a  magnificent  robe  of  wolf- 
skins, that  had  wandered  down  to  me  from 
the  snow-drifts  of  Utah,  constituted  my  en- 
tire outfit;  and  with  these  I  made  my  re- 
port to  Commodore  Salter  at  the  Brooklyn 
Xavy  Yard. 

"Almost  within  the  shadow  of  the  line- 
of -battle  ship  No?'th  Carolina,  their  hulls 
completely  hidden  beneath  a  projecting 
wharf,  were  two  little  hermaphrodite  brigs. 
Their  spars  had  no  man-of-war  trigness; 
their  decks  were  choked  with  half-stowed 
cargo;  and  for  size,  I  felt  as  if  I  could 
straddle  from  the  main  hatch  to  the  bul- 
warks. 

"At  this  first  si^ht  of  the  Grinnell  Ex- 


INTRODUCTION  11 

pedition,  I  confess  that  the  fastidious  ex- 
perience of  naval  Hfe  on  board  frigates  and 
corvettes  made  me  look  down  on  these  hum- 
ble vessels.  They  seemed  to  me  more  like 
a  couple  of  coasting  schooners  than  a  na- 
tional squadron  bound  for  a  perilous  and 
distant  sea.  Many  a  time  afterward  I  re- 
called the  short-sighted  ignorance  of  these 
first  impressions,  when  some  rude  encounter 
with  the  ice  made  comfort  and  dignity  very 
secondary  thoughts. 

"The  Advance,  my  immediate  home,  had 
been  originally  intended  for  the  transport 
of  machinery.  Her  timbers  were  heavily 
moulded,  and  her  fastenings  of  the  most 
careful  sort.  She  was  fifty-three  tons 
larger  than  her  consort,  the  Rescue;  yet  both 
together  barely  equaled  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  tons. 

"To  navigate  an  ice-bound  sea,  speed, 
though  important,  is  much  less  so  than 
strength.  Extreme  power  of  resistance  to 
pressure  must  be  combined  with  facility  of 
handling,  adequate  stowage,  and  a  solidity 
of  frame  that  may  encounter  sudden  con- 
cussions fearlessly;  and  it  seemed  to  both 


12  INTRODUCTION 

Mr.  Grinnell  and  Lieutenant  De  Haven 
that  these  quahties  might  be  best  embodied 
in  such  small  vessels  as  the  Advance  and 
Rescue.  It  was,  indeed,  something  like  a 
return  to  the  dimensions  of  our  predecessors 
of  the  olden  time;  for  the  three  vessels  of 
Frobisher  summed  up  only  seventy-five 
tons,  and  Baffin's  largest  was  ten  tons  less 
in  burden  than  the  Rescue.  As  the  vessels 
of  our  expedition  were  more  thoroughly 
adapted,  perhaps,  for  this  dangerous  serv- 
ice than  any  that  had  been  fitted  out  before 
for  the  Arctic  seas,  I  will  describe  them  in 
detail. 

"Commencing  with  the  outside:  the  hull 
was  literally  double,  a  brig  within  a  brig. 
An  outer  sheathing  of  two  and  a  half  inch 
oak  was  covered  with  a  second  of  the  same 
material;  and  strips  of  heavy  sheet-iron  ex- 
tended from  the  bows  to  the  beam,  as  a 
shield  against  the  cutting  action  of  the  new 
ice.  The  decks  were  double,  made  water- 
tight by  a  packing  of  tarred  felt  between 
them.  The  entire  interior  was  lined, 
ceiled,  with  cork;  which,  independently  of 
its  low  conducting  poAver,  was  a  valuable 


INTRODUCTION  13 

protection  against  the  condensing  moisture, 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  polar  cli- 
mate. 

"The  strengthening  of  her  skeleton,  her 
wooden  frame-work,  was  admirable.  For- 
ward, from  kelson  to  deck,  was  a  mass  of 
solid  timber,  clamped  and  dove-tailed  with 
nautical  wisdom,  for  seven  feet  from  the 
cutwater;  so  that  we  could  spare  a  foot  or 
two  of  our  bows  without  springing  a  leak. 
To  prevent  the  ice  from  forcing  in  her  sides, 
she  was  built  with  an  extra  set  of  beams  run- 
ning athwart  her  length  at  intervals  of  four 
feet,  and  so  arranged  as  to  ship  and  un- 
ship at  pleasure.  From  the  Samson-posts, 
strong  radiating  timbers,  called  shores,  di- 
verged in  every  direction;  and  oaken  knees, 
hanging  and  oblique,  were  added  wherever 
space  permitted. 

"Looking  forward  to  the  hampering  ice 
fields,  our  rudder  was  so  constructed  that 
it  could  be  taken  on  board  and  replaced 
again  in  less  than  four  minutes.  Our  winch, 
capstan,  and  patent  windlass  were  of  the 
best  and  newest  construction. 

"A  little  hurricane-house  amidships  con- 


14  INTRODUCTION 

tained  the  one  galley  that  cooked  for  all 
hands,  and  a  large  funnel  of  galvanized  h'on 
was  connected  with  the  chimney,  in  such  a 
way  that  the  heat  circulating  round  it  might 
supply  us  with  melted  snow.  An  armorer's- 
forge,  a  full  set  of  ice  anchors,  a  couple  of 
well-built  whale-boats,  and  three  anthracite 
stoves,  made  part  of  the  outfit. 

"In  a  word,  every  thing  about  the  two 
vessels  bore  the  marks  of  intelligent  fore- 
sight and  unsparing  expenditure. 

"With  the  governmental  arrangements  we 
were  not  so  fortunate.  It  seems  to  be  in- 
separable from  national  as  well  as  corporate 
administration,  that  it  is  less  effective  than 
the  action  of  individuals.  Neither  our  own 
navy  nor  that  of  Great  Britain  attains  re- 
sults so  cheaply,  promptly,  or  well,  as  the 
commercial  marine;  and  it  is  a  fact,  only 
expressed  from  a  sad  conviction  of  its  truth, 
that,  in  spite  of  the  disciplined  intelligence 
of  many  of  our  officers,  the  naval  service  of 
the  public  is  regarded  among  our  merchant 
brethren,  and  by  the  community  they  belong 
to,  as  non-progressive  and  old-fashioned  in 
all  that  admits  of  comparison  between  the 


INTRODUCTION  15 

two.  They  excel  us  in  equipment,  and 
speed,  and  substantial  economy. 

"I  can  not,  then,  say  much  in  praise  of 
either  the  dispatch  or  excellence  of  our 
strictly  naval  equipment.  There  were  other 
things,  besides  the  diminutive  size  of  our 
brigs,  to  remind  one  of  the  days  of  the  an- 
cient mariners.  Some  that  were  matters  of 
serious  vexation  at  the  moment  may  be  for- 
gotten now,  or  remembered  with  a  smile. 
Our  heterogeneous  collection  of  obsolete  old 
carbines,  with  the  impracticable  ball-cart- 
ridges that  accompanied  them,  gave  us  many 
a  laugh  before  we  got  home.  Thanks  to 
the  incessant  labors  of  our  commander,  and 
the  exhaustless  liberality  of  Mr.  Grinnell, 
most  of  our  deficiencies  were  made  up,  and 
we  effected  our  departure  in  time  for  the 
navigation  of  Baffin's  Bay. 

"Our  crews  consisted  of  man-of-war's-men 
of  various  climes  and  habitudes,  with  con- 
stitutions most  of  them  impaired  by  disease, 
temporarily  broken  by  the  excesses  of  shore 
life.  But  this  original  defect  of  material 
was  in  a  great  degree  counteracted  by  the 
strict  and  judicious  discipline  of  our  execu- 


16  INTRODUCTION 

tive  officers.  The  crews  proved  in  the  end 
wilhng  and  rehable;  and,  in  the  midst  of 
trials  which  would  have  tested  men  of  more 
pretension,  were  never  found  to  waver.  I 
record,  in  the  commencement  of  this  narra- 
tive, how  much  respect  and  kindly  feeling 
I,  as  one  of  their  little  body,  entertain  for 
their  essential  contribution  to  the  ends  of 
the  expedition." 

Speaking  of  the  quick  transition  from 
harbor  life  and  home  associations  to  the  dis- 
comforts of  arctic  voyaging  in  these  tiny 
ships,  he  continues: 

"The  difference  struck  me,  and  not  quite 
pleasantly,  as  I  climbed  over  straw  and  rub- 
bish into  the  little  peculium  which  was  to 
be  my  resting-place  for  so  long  a  time. 
The  cabin,  which  made  the  homestead  of 
four  human  beings,  was  somewhat  less  in 
dimensions  than  a  penitentiary  cell.  There 
was  just  room  enough  for  two  berths  of  six 
feet  each  on  a  side;  and  the  area  between, 
which  is  known  to  naval  men  as  'the  country,' 
seemed  completely  filled  up  with  the  hinged 
table,  the  four  camp-stools,  and  the  lockers. 
A  hanging  lamp,  that  creaked  uneasily  on 


INTRODUCTION  17 

its  gimbals,  illustrated  through  the  mist 
some  long  rows  of  crockery  shelves  and  the 
dripping  step-ladder  that  led  directly  from 
the  wet  deck  above.  Everything  spoke 
of  cheerless  discomfort  and  narrow  re- 
straint. .  .  . 

"I  now  began,  with  an  instinct  of  future 
exigencies,  to  fortify  my  retreat.  The  only 
spot  I  could  call  my  own  was  the  berth  I 
have  spoken  of  before.  It  was  a  sort  of 
bunk — a  right-angled  excavation,  of  six  feet 
by  two  feet  eight  in  horizontal  dimensions, 
let  into  the  side  of  the  vessel,  with  a  height 
of  something  less  than  a  yard.  My  first 
care  was  to  keep  water  out,  my  second  to 
make  it  warm.  A  bundle  of  tacks,  and  a 
few  yards  of  India-rubber  cloth,  soon  made 
me  an  impenetrable  casing  over  the  entire 
wood-work.  Upon  this  were  laid  my  Mor- 
mon wolf-skin  and  a  somewhat  ostentatious 
Astracan  fur  cloak,  a  relic  of  former  travel. 
Two  little  wooden  shelves  held  my  scanty 
library;  a  third  supported  a  reading  lamp, 
or,  upon  occasion,  a  Berzelius'  argand,  to  be 
lighted  when  the  dampness  made  an  in- 
crease of  heat  necessary.     My  watch  ticked 


18  INTRODUCTION 

from  its  particular  nail,  and  a  more  noise- 
less monitor,  my  thermometer,  occupied 
another.  My  ink-bottle  was  suspended, 
pendulum  fashion,  from  a  hook,  and  to  one 
long  string  was  fastened,  like  the  ladle  of  a 
street-pump,  my  entire  toilet,  a  tooth-brush, 
a  comb,  and  a  hair-brush. 

"Now,  when  all  these  distributions  had 
been  happily  accomplished,  and  I  crawled 
in  from  the  wet,  and  cold,  and  disorder  of 
without,  through  a  slit  in  the  India-rubber 
cloth,  to  the  very  centre  of  my  complicated 
resources,  it  would  be  hard  for  any  one  to 
realize  the  quantity  of  comfort  which  I  felt 
I  had  manufactured.  My  lamp  burned 
brightlj^ ;  little  or  no  water  distilled  from  the 
roof;  my  furs  warmed  me  into  satisfaction; 
and  I  realized  that  I  was  sweating  myself 
out  of  my  preliminary  cold,  and  could  tem- 
per down  at  pleasure  the  abruptness  of  my 
acclimation." 

The  expedition  progressed  northward 
without  sj^ecial  incident  until  the  8th  of 
July,  when,  having  passed  Uppernavik, 
"the  jumping-off  place  of  Arctic  naviga- 
tors," the  two  vessels  became  locked  fast  in 


INTRODUCTION  19 

the  ice.  Then  began  a  heart-breaking  task 
of  warjjing  through  the  pack  with  ice- 
anchor,  cable  and  winch.  It  was  "all 
hands"  at  this  heave  and  haul,  from  captain 
to  cook,  and  the  doctor  too.  "We  were 
twenty-one  days  thus  imprisoned,  never 
leaving  a  little  circle  of  some  six  miles 
radius."  Then  they  struck  open  water- 
leads,  and  made  fair  progress  for  sailing 
vessels  under  such  circumstances,  but  "how 
often  when  retarded  by  baffling  winds  or 
unfavorable  leads,  have  I  wished  for  a  few 
hours  of  steam  I" 

On  August  18th  they  passed  the  ice  bar- 
rier of  Baffin  Bay,  and  bore  away  south- 
westerly towards  Lancaster  Sound,  in  more 
open  water  than  they  had  seen  for  weeks. 
Several  British  rescue  squadrons  were 
known  to  be  somewhere  in  these  waters,  in- 
cluding a  number  of  steamers,  but  De  Haven 
and  his  associates  were  ignorant  of  their 
course  and  intended  scheme  of  search. 

"We  had  dreamed  before  this,  and  pleas- 
antly enough,  of  fellowship  with  them  in 
our  efforts,  dividing  between  us  the  hazards 
of  the  way,  and  perhaps  in  the  long  winter 


20  INTRODUCTION 

holding  with  them  the  cheery  intercourse 
of  kindred  sympathies.  We  waked  now  to 
the  probabiHties  of  passing  the  dark  days 
alone.  Yet  fairly  on  the  way,  an  energetic 
commander,  a  united  ship's  company,  the 
wind  freshening,  our  well-tried  little  ice- 
boat now  groping  her  way  like  a  blind  man 
through  fog  and  bergs,  and  now  dashing 
on  as  if  reckless  of  all  but  success — it  was 
impossible  to  repress  a  sentiment  almost 
akin  to  the  so-called  joyous  excitement  of 
conflict. 

"We  were  bidding  good-by  to  'ye  goode 
baye  of  old  William  Baffin';  and  as  we 
looked  round  witli  a  farewell  remembrance 
upon  the  still  water,  the  diminished  ice- 
bergs, and  the  constant  sun  which  had 
served  us  so  long  and  faithfully,  we  felt 
that  the  Bay  had  used  us  kindly." 

On  August  19th  they  fell  in  with  two 
of  the  British  vessels, — and  now  begins  the 
interesting  part  of  Kane's  narrative:  the 
discovery  of  the  site  of  Frankhn's  first 
winter  encampment,  then  of  three  head- 
stones marking  the  graves  of  men  belong- 
ing to  his  expedition,  and  finally  the  separa- 


INTRODUCTION  21 

tion  of  the  American  squadron  from  their 
Enghsh  aUies,  the  freezing-in  of  the  two 
ships,  and  their  drifting  helplessly  in  the  ice 
pack,  month  after  month,  through  the  long 
Arctic  night,  where  no  vessel  ever  had  win- 
tered before — drifting  "toward  God  knows 
where!" 

The  following  pages  comprise  chapters 
XX  to  XLVI  of  Dr.  Kane's  work  "The 
U.  S.  Grinnell  Expedition  in  search  of  Sir 
John  Franklin:  a  Personal  Narrative" 
(London  and  New  York,  1854),  omitting 
nothing  but  some  scientific  observations  that 
do  not  add  to  the  interest  of  the  book  as  a 
record  of  heroic  adventure. 

In  this  narrative  Dr.  Kane  tells  of  the 
first  discovery  of  traces  of  the  Franklin 
expedition — the  winter  encampment  on 
Beechey  Island,  and  the  three  graves.  No 
more  was  learned  of  the  ill-starred  naviga- 
tors until  1854,  when  Dr.  Rae,  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  heard  that  a  party  of 
white  men  had  been  seen,  four  winters  be- 
fore, on  King  William's  Land,  and  that 
their  bodies  had  been  afterwards  found  on 
the    mainland.     From    the    Eskimos    who 


22         ADRIFT  IN  THE  ICE  FLOES 

gave  him  this  report  he  obtained  various 
rehcs  of  the  Frankhn  expedition  that  were 
unquestionably  authentic. 

In  1859  numerous  other  relics  were  found, 
including  a  paper  on  which  was  the  follow- 
ing memorandum. — 

"25  April,  1848.— H.  M.  ships  Terror  and 
Erebus  were  deserted  on  22  April,  5  leagues 
N.N.W.  of  this,  having  been  beset  since 
12  Sept.,  1846.  The  officers  and  crews, 
consisting  of  105  souls,  under  the  command 
of  Captain  F.  R.  M.  Crozier,  landed  here 
in  lat.  69°  37'  42''  N.,  long.  98°  41'  W.  Sir 
John  Frankhn  died  on  11  June,  1847,  and 
the  total  loss  by  deaths  in  the  expedition 
has  been  to  this  date  9  officers  and  15  men. 

"And  start  on  to-morrow,  26th,  for 
Back's  Fish  River." 

Nothing  further  has  ever  been  heard  of 
the  discoverers  of  the  northwest  passage. 
They  vanished  in  the  great  white  silence. 
Horace  Kephart. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC 
ICE  PACK 

CHAPTER  I 

*<    A    ^^^'^^  ^^'  ^^^^  ^i^d  ^°^- 

/%  tinued  freshening,  the  aneroid 
/  %^  falling  two  tenths  in  the  night. 
About  eight  I  was  called  by 
our  master,  with  the  news  that  a  couple  of 
vessels  were  following  in  our  wake.  We 
were  shortening  sail  for  our  consort;  and 
by  half  past  twelve,  the  larger  stranger,  the 
Lady  Franklin,  came  up  along  side  of  us. 
A  cordial  greeting,  such  as  those  only  know 
who  have  been  pelted  for  weeks  in  the  sol- 
itudes of  Arctic  ice — and  we  learned  that 
this  was  Captain  Penny's  squadron,  bound 
on  the  same  pursuit  as  ourselves.  A  hur- 
ried interchange  of  news  followed.  The  ice 
in  INIelville  Bay  had  bothered  both  parties 

25 


26     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

alike;  Commodore  Austin,  with  his  steamer 
tenders,  was  three  days  ago  at  Carey's 
Islands,  a  group  nearly  as  high  as  77°  north 
latitude;  the  North  Star,  the  missing  pro- 
vision transport  of  last  summer,  was  safe 
somewhere  in  Lancaster  Sound,  probably  at 
Leopold  Island.     For  the  rest,  God  speed! 

"As  she  slowly  forged  ahead,  there  came 
over  the  rough  sea  that  good  old  English 
hurra,  which  we  inherit  on  our  side  the 
water.  'Three  cheers,  hearty,  with  a  will!' 
indicating  as  much  of  brotherhood  as  sym- 
pathy. 'Stand  aloft,  boys!'  and  we  gave 
back  the  greeting.  One  cheer  more  of  ac- 
knowledgment on  each  side,  and  the  sister 
flags  separated,  each  on  its  errand  of  mercy. 

"8  P.M.  The  breeze  has  freshened  to  a 
gale.  Fogs  have  closed  round  us,  and  we 
are  driving  ahead  again,  with  look-outs  on 
every  side.  We  have  no  observation;  but 
by  estimate  we  must  have  got  into  Lancas- 
ter Sound. 

"The  sea  is  short  and  excessive.  Every 
thing  on  deck,  even  anchors  and  quarter- 
boats,  have  'fetched  away,'  and  the  little 
cabin  is  half  afloat.     The  Rescue  is  stagger- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    27 

ing  under  heavy  sail  astern  of  us.  We  are 
making  six  or  seven  knots  an  hour.  ISIur- 
daugh  is  ahead,  looking  out  for  ice  and 
rocks;  De  Haven  conning  the  ship. 

"All  at  once  a  high  mountain  shore  rises 
before  us,  and  a  couple  of  isolated  rocks 
show  themselves,  not  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  ahead,  white  with  breakers.  Both 
vessels  are  laid  to." 

The  storm  reminded  me  of  a  Mexican 
"norther."  It  was  not  till  the  afternoon  of 
the  next  day  that  we  were  able  to  resume 
our  track,  under  a  double-reefed  top-sail, 
stay-sail,  and  spencer.  We  were,  of  course, 
without  observation  still,  and  could  only 
reckon  that  we  had  passed  the  Cunningham 
Mountains  and  Cape  Warrender. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
21st,  another  sail  was  reported  ahead,  a  top- 
sail schooner,  towing  after  her  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  launch,  decked  over. 

"When  I  reached  the  deck,  we  were 
nearly  up  to  her,  for  we  had  shaken  out  our 
reefs,  and  were  driving  before  the  wind, 
shipping  seas  at  every  roU.  The  little 
schooner  was  under  a  single  close-reefed  top- 


28     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

sail,  and  seemed  fluttering  over  the  waves 
like  a  crippled  bird.  Presently  an  old  fel- 
low, with  a  cloak  tossed  over  his  night  gear, 
appeared  in  the  lee  gangway,  and  saluted 
with  a  voice  that  rose  above  the  winds. 

"It  was  the  Felix,  commanded  by  that 
practical  Ai'ctic  veteran,  Sir  John  Ross.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  heartiness  with  which 
the  hailing  officer  sang  out,  in  the  midst  of 
our  dialogue,  'You  and  I  are  ahead  of  them 
all.'  It  was  so  indeed.  Austin,  with  two 
vessels,  was  at  Pond's  Bay;  Penny  was 
somewhere  in  the  gale;  and  others  of  Aus- 
tin's squadron  were  exploring  the  north  side 
of  the  Sound.  The  Felia?  and  the  Advance 
were  on  the  lead. 

"Before  we  separated,  Sir  John  Ross 
came  on  deck,  and  stood  at  the  side  of  his 
officer.  He  was  a  square-built  man,  ap- 
parently veiy  little  stricken  in  years,  and 
well  able  to  bear  his  part  in  the  toils  and 
hazards  of  life.  He  has  been  wounded  in 
four  several  engagements — twice  desper- 
ately— and  is  scarred  from  head  to  foot. 
He  has  conducted  two  Polar  expeditions  al- 
ready, and  performed  in  one  of  them  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     29 

unparalleled  feat  of  wintering  four  years  in 
Ai'ctic  snows.  And  here  he  is  again,  in  a 
flimsy  cockle-shell,  after  contributing  his 
purse  and  his  influence,  embarked  himself 
in  the  crusade  of  search  for  a  lost  comrade. 
We  met  him  off  Admiralty  Inlet,  just  about 
the  spot  at  which  he  was  picked  up  seventeen 
years  before." 

Soon  after  midnight,  the  land  became 
visible  on  the  north  side  of  the  Sound.  We 
had  passed  Cape  Charles  Yorke  and  Cape 
Crawfurd,  and  were  fanning  along  slug- 
gishly with  all  the  sail  we  could  crowd  for 
Port  Leopold. 

It  was  the  next  day,  however,  before  we 
came  in  sight  of  the  island,  and  it  was  nearly 
spent  when  we  found  ourselves  slowly  ap- 
proaching Whaler  Point,  the  seat  of  the 
harbor.  Our  way  had  been  remarkably 
clear  of  ice  for  some  days,  and  we  were 
vexed  to  flnd,  therefore,  that  a  firm  and 
rugged  barrier  extended  along  the  western 
shore  of  the  inlet,  and  apparently  across  the 
entrance  we  were  seeking. 

It  was  a  great  relief  to  us  to  see,  at  half 
past  six  in  the  evening,  a  top-sail  schooner 


30     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

working  toward  us  through  the  ice.  She 
boarded  us  at  ten,  and  proved  to  be  Lady 
Franklin's  own  search- vessel,  the  Prince  Al- 
bert. 

This  was  a  very  pleasant  meeting.  Cap- 
tain Forsyth,  who  commanded  the  Albert, 
and  Mr.  Snow,  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  ad- 
jutant under  him,  were  very  agreeable  gen- 
tlemen. They  spent  some  hours  with  us, 
which  ]Mr.  Snow  has  remembered  kindly  in 
the  journal  he  has  j)ublished  since  his  re- 
turn to  England.  Their  little  vessel  was 
much  less  perfectly  fitted  than  ours  to  en- 
counter the  perils  of  the  ice;  but  in  one  re- 
spect at  least  their  expedition  resembled  our 
own.  They  had  to  rough  it :  to  use  a  West- 
ern phrase,  they  had  no  fancy  fixings — 
nothing  but  what  a  hasty  outfit  and  a  limited 
purse  could  supply.  They  were  now  bound 
for  Cape  Rennell,  after  which  they  pro- 
posed making  a  sledge  excursion  over  the 
lower  Boothian  and  Cockburne  lands. 

The  North  Star,  they  told  us,  had  been 
caught  by  the  ice  last  season  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  our  own  first  imprisonment,  off  the 
Devil's  Thumb.     After  a  perilous  drift,  she 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     31 

had  succeeded  in  entering  Wolstenholme 
Sound,  whence,  after  a  tedious  winter,  she 
had  only  recently  arrived  at  Port  Bowen. 

They  followed  in  our  wake  the  next  day 
as  we  pushed  through  many  streams  of  ice 
across  the  strait.  We  sighted  the  shore 
about  five  miles  to  the  west  of  Cape  Hurd 
very  closely;  a  miserable  wilderness,  rising 
in  terraces  of  broken-down  limestone,  ar- 
ranged between  the  hills  like  a  vast  theatre. 

On  the  25th,  still  beating  through  the  ice 
off  Radstock  Bay,  we  discovered  on  Cape 
Riley  two  cairns,  one  of  them,  the  most  con- 
spicuous, with  a  flag-staff  and  ball.  A 
couple  of  hours  after,  we  were  near  enough 
to  land.  The  cape  itself  is  a  low  projecting 
tongue  of  limestone,  but  at  a  short  distance 
behind  it  the  cliff  rises  to  the  height  of  some 
eight  hundred  feet.  We  found  a  tin  canis- 
ter within  the  larger  cairn,  containing  the 
information  that  Captain  Ommanney  had 
been  there  two  days  before  us,  with  the  As- 
sistance and  Intrepid,  belonging  to  Captain 
Austin's  squadron,  and  had  discovered 
traces  of  an  encampment,  and  other  indi- 
cations "that  some  party  belonging  to  her 


32     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Britannic  majesty's  service  had  been  de- 
tained at  this  spot."  Similar  traces,  it  was 
added,  had  been  found  also  on  Beechy  Is- 
land, a  projection  on  the  channel  side  some 
ten  miles  from  Cape  Riley. 

Our  consort,  the  Rescue,  as  we  afterward 
learned,  had  shared  in  this  discovery,  though 
the  British  commander's  inscription  in  the 
cairn,  as  well  as  his  official  reports,  might 
lead  perhaps  to  a  different  conclusion. 
Captain  Griffin,  in  fact,  landed  with  Cap- 
tain Ommanney,  and  the  traces  were  reg- 
istered while  the  two  officers  were  in  com- 
pany. 

I  inspected  these  different  traces  very 
carefully,  and  noted  what  I  observed  at  the 
moment.  The  appearances  which  connect 
them  with  the  story  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
have  been  described  by  others;  but  there 
may  still  be  interest  in  a  description  of  them 
made  while  they  were  under  my  eye.  I 
transcribe  it  word  for  word  from  my  jour- 
nal. 

"On  a  tongue  of  fossiliferous  limestone, 
fronting  toward  the  west  on  a  little  inden- 
tation of  the  water,  and  shielded  from  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     33 

north  by  the  precipitous  cliffs,  are  five  dis- 
tinct remnants  of  habitation. 

"Nearest  the  chffs,  four  circular  mounds 
or  heapings-up  of  the  crumbled  limestone, 
aided  by  larger  stones  placed  at  the  outer 
edge,  as  if  to  protect  the  leash  of  a  tent. 
Two  larger  stones,  with  an  intei^val  of  two 
feet,  fronting  the  west,  mark  the  places  of 
entrance. 

"Several  large  square  stones,  so  arranged 
as  to  serve  probably  for  a  fire-place.  These 
have  been  tumbled  over  by  parties  before 
us. 

"More  distant  from  the  cliffs,  yet  in  line 
with  the  four  already  described,  is  a  larger 
inclosure ;  the  door  facing  south,  and  looking 
toward  the  strait:  this  so-called  door  is 
simply  an  entrance  made  of  large  stones 
placed  one  above  the  other.  The  inclosure 
itself  triangular;  its  northern  side  about 
eighteen  inches  high,  built  up  of  flat  stones. 
Some  bird  bones  and  one  rib  of  a  seal  were 
found  exactly  in  the  centre  of  this  triangle, 
as  if  a  party  had  sat  round  it  eating;  and 
the  top  of  a  preserved  meat  case,  much 
rusted,   was   found  in  the   same  place.     I 


34.     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

picked  up  a  piece  of  canvas  or  duck  on  the 
cliff  side,  well  worn  by  the  weather:  the 
sailors  recognized  it  at  once  as  the  gore  of 
a  pair  of  trowsers. 

"A  fifth  circle  is  discernible  nearer  the 
cliffs,  which  may  have  belonged  to  the  same 
party.  It  was  less  perfect  than  the  others, 
and  seemed  of  an  older  date. 

"On  the  beach,  some  twenty  or  thirty 
yards  from  the  triangular  inclosure,  were 
several  pieces  of  pine  wood  about  four  inches 
long,  painted  green,  and  white,  and  black, 
and,  in  one  instance,  puttied ;  evidently  parts 
of  a  boat,  and  apparently  collected  as  kin- 
dling wood." 

The  indications  were  meagre,  but  the  con- 
clusion they  led  to  was  irresistible.  They 
could  not  be  the  work  of  Esquimaux:  the 
whole  character  of  them  contradicted  it :  and 
the  only  European  who  could  have  visited 
Cape  Riley  was  Parry,  twenty-eight  years 
before;  and  we  knew  from  his  journal  that 
he  had  not  encamped  here.  Then,  again, 
Ommanney's  discovery  of  like  vestiges  on 
Beechy  Island,  just  on  the  track  of  a  party 
moving  in  either  direction  between  it  and  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     35 

channel:  all  these  speak  of  a  land  party  from 
Franklin's  squadron. 

Our  commander  resolved  to  press  onward 
along  the  eastern  shore  of  Wellington  Chan- 
nel. We  were  under  weigh  in  the  early 
morning  of  the  26th,  and  working  along 
with  our  consort  toward  Beechy — I  drop 
the  "Island,"  for  it  is  more  strictly  a  penin- 
sula or  a  promontory  of  limestone,  as  high 
and  abrupt  as  that  at  Cape  Riley,  connected 
with  what  we  call  the  main  by  a  low  isthmus. 
Still  further  on  we  passed  Cape  Spencer; 
then  a  fine  bluff  point,  called  by  Parry 
Point  Innes ;  and  further  on  again,  the  trend 
being  to  the  east  of  north,  we  saw  the 
low  tongue,  Cape  Bowden.  Parry  merely 
sighted  these  points  from  a  distance,  so  that 
the  shore  line  has  never  been  traced.  I 
sketched  it  myself  with  some  care;  but  the 
running  survey  of  this  celebrated  explorer 
had  left  nothing  to  alter.  To  the  north  of 
Cape  Innes,  though  the  coast  retains  the 
same  geognostical  character,  the  bluff  prom- 
ontories subside  into  low  hills,  between 
which  the  beach,  composed  of  coarse  silicious 
limestone,  sweeps  in  long  curvilinear  ter- 


36    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

races.  Measuring  some  of  these  rudely 
afterward,  I  found  that  the  elevation  o;f 
the  highest  plateau  did  not  exceed  forty 
feet. 

Our  way  northward  was  along  an  ice 
channel  close  under  the  eastern  shore,  and 
bounded  on  the  other  side  by  the  ice-pack, 
at  a  distance  varying  from  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  to  a  mile  and  three  quarters.  Off  Cape 
Spencer  the  way  seemed  more  open,  widen- 
ing perhaps  to  two  miles,  and  showing  some- 
thing like  continued  free  water  to  the  north 
and  west.  Here  we  met  Captain  Penny, 
with  the  Lady  Franklin  and  Sophia.  He 
told  us  that  the  channel  was  completely  shut 
in  ahead  by  a  compact  ice  barrier,  which 
connected  itself  with  that  to  the  west,  de- 
scribing a  horseshoe  bend.  He  thought  a 
south  wester  was  coming  on,  and  counseled 
us  to  prepare  for  the  chances  of  an  impact- 
ment.  The  go-ahead  determination  which 
characterized  our  commander  made  us  test 
the  correctness  of  his  advice.  We  pushed 
on,  tracked  the  horseshoe  circuit  of  the  ice 
without  finding  an  outlet,  and  were  glad  to 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     37 

labor  back  again  almost  in  the  teeth  of  a 
gale. 

Captain  Penny  had  occupied  the  time 
more  profitably.  In  company  with  Dr. 
Goodsir,  an  enthusiastic  explorer  and  highly 
educated  gentleman,  whose  brother  was  an 
assistant  surgeon  on  board  the  missing  ves- 
sels, he  had  been  examining  the  shore.  On 
the  ridge  of  limestone,  between  Cape  Spen- 
cer and  Point  Innes,  they  had  come  across 
additional  proofs  that  Sir  John's  party  had 
been  here — very  important  these  proofs  as 
extending  the  line  along  the  shore  over 
which  the  party  must  have  moved  from  Cape 
Riley, 

Among  the  articles  they  had  found  were 
tin  canisters,  with  the  London  maker's  label ; 
scraps  of  newspaper,  bearing  the  date  1844; 
a  paper  fragment,  with  the  words  "until 
called"  on  it,  seemingly  part  of  a  watch 
order;  and  two  other  fragments,  each  with 
the  name  of  one  of  Franklin's  officers  wi'it- 
ten  on  it  in  pencil.  I  annex  a  fac-simile  of 
one  of  these,  the  assistant  surgeon  of  the 
Terror.     They  told  us,  too,  that  among  the 


S8     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

articles  found  by  Captain  Penny's  men  was 
a  dredge,  rudely  fashioned  of  iron  hoops 
beat  round,  with  spikes  inserted  in  them, 
and  arranged  for  a  long  handle,  as  if  to 
fish  up  missing  articles;  besides  some  foot- 
less stockings,  tied  up  at  the  lower  end  to 
serve  as  socks,  an  officer's  pocket,  velvet- 
lined,  torn  off  from  the  di-ess,  &c.,  &c.;  all 
of  which,  they  thought,  spoke  of  a  party  that 
had  suffered  wreck,  and  were  moving  east- 
ward. Acting  on  this  impression.  Captain 
Penny  was  about  to  proceed  toward  Baffin's 
Bay,  along  the  north  shore  of  Lancaster 
Sound,  in  the  hope  of  encountering  them, 
or,  more  probably,  their  bleached  remains. 

For  mj^self,  looking  only  at  the  facts,  and 
carefully  discarding  every  deduction  that 
might  be  prompted  by  sympathy  rather  than 
reason,  my  journal  reminds  me  that  I  did 
not  see  in  these  signs  the  evidence  of  a  lost 
party.  The  party  was  evidently  in  motion ; 
but  it  might  be  that  it  was  a  detachment, 
engaged  in  making  observations,  or  in  ex- 
ploring with  a  view  to  the  operations  of  the 
spring,  while  the  ships  were  locked  in  win- 
ter   quarters    at    Cape    Riley    or    Beechy, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     39 

which  had  returned  on  board   before  the 
opening  of  the  ice. 

I  may  add,  as  not  without  some  bearing 
on  the  fortunes  of  this  party,  whatever  may 
have  been  its  condition  or  purposes,  that  the 
vacant  water-spaces  around  us  at  this  time 
were  teeming  with  animal  Hfe.  After  pass- 
ing Beechy,  we  saw  seal  disporting  in  great 
flocks,  rising  out  of  the  water  as  high  as 
their  middle,  like  boys  in  swimming;  the 
white  whale,  the  first  we  had  seen,  to  the 
extent  of  thirty-eight  separate  shoals;  the 
narwhal,  or  sea-unicorn;  and,  finally,  that 
marine  pachyderm,  the  tusky  walrus. 
These  last  were  always  crowded  on  small 
tongues  of  ice,  whose  purity  they  marred 
not  a  little — grim-looking  monsters,  re- 
minding me  of  the  stage  hobgoblins,  some- 
thing venerable  and  semi-Egyptian  withal. 
We  passed  so  close  as  to  have  several  shots 
at  them.  They  invariably  rose  after  plung- 
ing, and  looked  snortingly  around,  as  if  to 
make  fight.  Polar  bears  were  numerous  be- 
yond our  previous  experience,  and  the 
Arctic  fox  and  hare  abounded.  If  we  add 
to  these  the  crowding  tenants  of  the  air,  the 


40     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Brent  goose,  which  now  came  in  great  cunoid 
flocks  from  the  north  and  north  by  east, 
the  loons,  the  mollemokes,  and  the  divers, 
we  may  form  an  estimate  of  the  means  of 
human  subsistence  in  these  seas. 


CHAPTER  II 

ON"  the  27th,  the  chances  of  this 
narrow  and  capricious  naviga- 
tion had  gathered  five  of  the 
searching  vessels,  under  three 
different  commands,  within  the  same  quarter 
of  a  mile — Sir  John  Ross',  Penny's,  and 
our  own.  Both  Ross  and  Penny  had  made 
the  effort  to  push  through  the  sound  to  the 
west,  but  found  a  great  belt  of  ice,  reach- 
ing in  an  almost  regular  crescent  from  Leo- 
pold's Island  across  to  the  northern  shore, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  entrance  of  the 
channel.  Captain  Ommanney,  with  the 
Intrepid  and  Assistance,  had  been  less  for- 
tunate. He  had  attempted  to  break  his  way 
through  the  barrier,  but  it  had  closed  on  him, 
and  he  was  now  fast,  within  fifteen  miles 
of  us,  to  the  west. 

After  breakfast,  our  commander  and  my- 
self took  a  boat  to  visit  the  traces  discovered 
yesterday  by  Captain  Penny.     Taking  the 

41 


42    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Lady  Franklin  in  our  way,  we  met  Sir  John 
Ross  and  Commander  Phillips,  and  a  con- 
ference naturally  took  place  upon  the  best 
plans  for  concerted  operations.  I  was  very 
much  struck  with  the  gallant  disinterested- 
ness of  spirit  which  was  shown  by  all  the 
officers  in  this  discussion.  Penny,  an  en- 
ergetic, practical  fellow,  sketched  out  at 
once  a  plan  of  action  for  each  vessel  of  the 
party.  He  himself  would  take  the  western 
search;  Ross  should  run  over  to  Prince 
Regent's  Sound,  communicate  the  news  to 
the  Prince  Albert,  and  so  relieve  that  little 
vessel  from  the  now  unnecessary  perils  of 
her  intended  expedition;  and  we  were  to 
press  through  the  first  openings  in  the  ice 
by  Wellington  Channel,  to  the  north  and 
east. 

It  was  wisely  determined  by  brave  old 
Sir  John  that  he  would  leave  the  Mary,  his 
tender  of  twelve  tons,  at  a  little  inlet  near 
the  point,  to  serve  as  a  fallback  in  case  we 
should  lose  our  vessels  or  become  sealed  up 
in  permanent  ice,  and  De  Haven  and  Penny 
engaged  their  respective  shares  oflier  outfit, 
in  the  shape  of  some  barrels  of  beef  and 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     43 

flour.  Sir  John  Ross,  I  think,  had  just 
left  us  to  go  on  board  his  httle  craft,  and 
I  was  still  talking  over  our  projects  with 
Captain  Penny,  when  a  messenger  was  rc' 
ported,  making  all  speed  to  us  over  the  ice. 

The  news  he  brought  was  thrilling. 
"Graves,  Captain  Penny!  graves!  Frank- 
lin's winter  quarters!"  We  were  instantly 
in  motion.  Captain  De  Haven,  Captain 
Penny,  Commander  Philhps,  and  myself, 
joined  by  a  party  from  the  Rescue j  hur- 
ried on  over  the  ice,  and,  scrambhng  along 
the  loose  and  rugged  slope  that  extends 
from  Beechy  to  the  shore,  came,  after  a 
weary  walk,  to  the  crest  of  the  isthmus. 
Here,  amid  the  sterile  uniformity  of  snow 
and  slate,  were  the  head-boards  of  three 
graves,  made  after  the  old  orthodox  fashion 
of  gravestones  at  home.  The  mounds  which 
adjoined  them  were  arranged  with  some 
pretensions  to  symmetry,  coped  and  de- 
fended with  limestone  slabs.  They  occupied 
a  line  facing  toward  Cape  Riley,  which  was 
distinctly  visible  across  a  little  cove  at  the 
distance  of  some  four  hundred  yards. 

The  first,  or  that  most  to  the  southward. 


44     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

is  nearest  to  the  front  in  the  accompanying 
sketch.  Its  inscription,  cut  in  by  a  chisel, 
ran  thus; 

"Sacred 

to  the 

memory 

of 

W.  Braine,  R.  M., 

H.  M.  S.  Erebus. 

Died  April  3d,  1846, 

aged  32  years. 

'Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve.' 

Joshua,  eh.  xxiv.,  15." 

The  second  was: 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of 

John  Hartnell,  A.  B.  of  H.  M.  S. 

Erebus, 

aged  23  years. 

'Thus  saith  the  Lord,  consider  your  ways.' 

Haggai,  i.,  7." 

The  third  and  last  of  these  memorials  was 
not  quite  so  well  finished  as  the  others. 
The  mound  was  not  of  stone-work,  but  its 
general  appearance  was  more  grave-like, 
more  like  the  sleeping-place  of  Christians 
in  happier  lands.     It  was  inscribed : 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     45 

"Sacred 

to 

the  memory 

of 

John  Torrington, 

who  departed  this  life 

January  1st,  A.D.  1846, 

on  board  of 

H.  M.  ship  Terror, 

aged  20  years." 

"Departed  this  life  on  hoard  the  Terror, 
1st  January,  1846!"  Franklin's  ships,  then, 
had  not  been  wrecked  when  he  occupied  the 
encampment  at  Beechy! 

Two  large  stones  were  imbedded  in  the 
friable  hmestone  a  little  to  the  left  of  these 
sad  records,  and  near  them  was  a  piece  of 
wood,  more  than  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  two 
feet  eight  inches  high,  which  had  evidently 
served  for  an  anvil-block:  the  marks  were 
unmistakable.  Near  it  again,  but  still  more 
to  the  east,  and  therefore  nearer  the  beach, 
was  a  large  blackened  space,  covered  with 
coal  cinders,  iron  nails,  spikes,  hinges,  rings, 
clearly  the  remains  of  the  armorer's  forge. 
Still  nearer   the   beach,   but   more   to   the 


46     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

south,  was  the  carpenter's  shop,  its  marks 
equally  distinctive. 

Leaving  "the  graves,"  and  walking  to- 
ward Wellington  Straits,  about  four  hun- 
dred yards,  or  perhaps  less,  we  came  to  a 
mound,  or  rather  a  series  of  mounds,  which, 
considering  the  Ai'ctic  character  of  the  sur- 
face at  this  spot,  must  have  been  a  work  of 
labor.  It  inclosed  one  nearly  elhptical 
area,  and  one  other,  which,  though  sepa- 
rated from  the  first  by  a  lesser  mound,  ap- 
peared to  be  connected  with  it.  The  spaces 
thus  inclosed  abounded  in  fragmentary  re- 
mains. Among  them  I  saw  a  stocking  with- 
out a  foot,  sewed  up  at  its  edge,  and  a  mit- 
ten not  so  much  the  worse  for  use  as  to  have 
been  without  value  to  its  owner.  Shavings 
of  wood  were  strewed  freely  on  the  south- 
ern side  of  the  mound,  as  if  they  had  been 
collected  there  by  the  continued  labor  of 
artificers,  and  not  far  from  these,  a  few 
hundred  yards  lower  down,  was  the  rem- 
nant of  a  garden.  Weighing  all  the  signs 
carefully,  I  had  no  doubt  that  this  was 
some  central  shore  establishment,  connected 
with  the  squadron,  and  that  the  lesser  area 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     47 

was  used  as  an  observatory,  for  it  had  large 
stones  fixed  as  if  to  support  instruments, 
and  the  scanthng  j)rops  still  stuck  in  the 
frozen  soil. 

Travelling  on  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
further,  and  in  the  same  direction,  we  came 
upon  a  deposit  of  more  than  six  hundred 
preserved-meat  cans,  arranged  in  regular 
order.  They  had  been  emptied,  and  were 
now  filled  with  Hmestone  pebbles,  perhaps 
to  serve  as  convenient  ballast  on  boating  ex- 
peditions. 

These  were  among  the  more  obvious 
vestiges  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  party.  The 
minor  indications  about  the  ground  were  in- 
numerable: fragments  of  canvas,  rope, 
cordage,  sail-cloth,  tarpaulins ;  of  casks,  iron- 
work, wood,  rough  and  carved;  of  clothing, 
such  as  a  blanket  lined  by  long  stitches  with 
common  cotton  stuff,  and  made  into  a  sort 
of  rude  coat;  paper  in  scraps,  white,  waste, 
and  journal;  a  small  key;  a  few  odds  and 
ends  of  brass-work,  such  as  might  be  part  of 
the  furniture  of  a  locker;  in  a  word,  the 
numberless  reliquiae  of  a  winter  resting- 
place.     One  of  the  papers,  which  I  have  pre- 


48     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

served,  has  on  it  the  notation  of  an  astro- 
nomical sight,  worked  out  to  Greenwich 
time. 

With  all  this,  not  a  written  memorandum, 
or  pointing  cross,  or  even  the  vaguest  intima- 
tion of  the  condition  or  intentions  of  the 
party.  The  traces  found  at  Cape  Riley  and 
Beechy  were  still  more  baffling.  The  cairn 
was  mounted  on  a  high  and  conspicuous  por- 
tion of  the  shore,  and  evidently  intended  to 
attract  observation;  but,  though  several 
parties  examined  it,  digging  round  it  in 
every  direction,  not  a  single  particle  of  in- 
formation could  be  gleaned.  This  is  re- 
markable; and  for  so  able  and  practiced  an 
Artie  commander  as  Sir  John  Franklin,  an 
incomprehensible  omission. 

In  a  narrow  interval  between  the  hills 
which  come  down  toward  Beechy  Island,  the 
searching  parties  of  the  Rescue  and  ^Ir. 
Murdaugh  of  our  own  vessel  found  the 
tracks  of  a  sledge  clearly  defined,  and  un- 
mistakable both  as  to  character  and  direc- 
tion. They  pointed  to  the  eastern  shores 
of  Wellington  Sound,  in  the  same  gen- 
eral  course  with  the  traces  discovered  by 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     49 

Penny  between  Cape   Spencer  and  Point 
Innes. 

Similar  traces  were  seen  toward  Cas- 
well's Tower  and  Cape  Riley,  which  gave 
additional  proofs  of  systematic  journeyings. 
They  could  be  traced  through  the  com- 
minuted limestone  shingle  in  the  direction  of 
Cape  Spencer;  and  at  intervals  further  on 
were  scraps  of  paper,  lucifer  matches,  and 
even  the  cinders  of  the  temporary  fire.  The 
sledge  parties  must  have  been  regularly  or- 
ganized, for  their  course  had  evidently  been 
the  subject  of  a  previous  reconnoissance. 
I  observed  their  runner  tracks  not  only  in  the 
limestone  crust,  but  upon  some  snow  slopes 
further  to  the  north.  It  was  starthng  to  see 
the  evidences  of  a  travel  nearly  six  years  old, 
preserved  in  intaglio  on  a  material  so  per- 
ishable. 

The  snows  of  the  Arctic  regions,  by  alter- 
nations of  congelation  and  thaw,  acquire 
sometimes  an  ice-like  durability;  but  these 
traces  had  been  covered  by  the  after-snows 
of  five  winters.  They  pointed,  like  the 
Sastrugi,  or  snow-waves  of  the  Siberians, 
to  the  marchers  of  the  lost  company. 


50    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACE 

Mr.  Griffin,  who  performed  a  journej^  of 
research  along  this  coast  toward  the  north, 
found  at  intervals,  almost  to  Cape  Bowden, 
traces  of  a  passing  party.  A  corked  bottle, 
quite  empty,  was  among  these.  Reaching  a 
point  beyond  Cape  Bowden,  he  discovered 
the  indentation  or  bay  which  now  bears  his 
name,  and  on  whose  opposite  shores  the 
coast  was  again  seen. 

It  is  clear  to  my  own  mind  that  a  system- 
atic reconnoissance  was  undertaken  by 
Frankhn  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Well- 
ington, and  that  it  had  for  its  object  an  ex- 
ploration in  that  direction  as  soon  as  the 
ice  would  permit. 

There  were  some  features  about  this 
deserted  homestead  inexpressibly  touching. 
The  frozen  trough  of  an  old  water  channel 
had  served  as  the  wash-house  stream  for  the 
crews  of  the  lost  squadron.  The  tubs,  such 
as  Jack  makes  by  sawing  in  half  the  beef 
barrels,  although  no  longer  fed  by  the  melted 
snows,  remained  as  the  washers  had  left  them 
five  years  ago.  The  little  garden,  too:  I 
did  not  see  it;  but  Lieutenant  Osborn  de- 
scribes it  as  still  showing  the  mosses  and 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     51 

anemones  that  were  transplanted  by  its 
farmers.  A  garden  implies  a  purpose  either 
to  remain  or  to  return:  he  who  makes  it  is 
looking  to  the  future.  The  same  officer 
found  a  pair  of  cashmere  gloves,  carefully 
"laid  out  to  dry,  with  two  small  stones  upon 
the  palms  to  keep  them  from  blowing  away." 
It  would  be  wrong  to  measure  the  value  of 
these  gloves  by  the  price  they  could  be 
bought  in  Bond  Street  or  Broadway.  The 
Arctic  traveler  they  belonged  to  intended  to 
come  back  for  them,  and  did  not  probably 
forget  them  in  his  hurry. 

The  facts  I  have  mentioned,  almost  all  of 
them,  have  been  so  ably  analyzed  already, 
that  I  might  be  excused  from  venturing  any 
deductions  of  my  own.  But  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  review  the  circumstances  as  we  stood 
upon  the  ground  without  forming  an  opin- 
ion ;  and  such  as  mine  was,  it  is  perhaps  best 
that  I  should  express  it  here. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that  Sir  John 
Franklin's  consort,  the  Terror,  wintered  in 
1845-6  at  or  near  the  promontory  of  Beechy ; 
that  at  least  part  of  her  crew  remained  on 
board  of  her;  and  that  some  of  the  crew  of 


52    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  flag-ship,  the  Erebus,  if  not  the  ship 
herself,  were  also  there.  It  is  also  plain  that 
a  part  of  one  or  both  these  crews  was  oc- 
cupied during  a  portion  of  the  winter  in  the 
various  pursuits  of  an  organized  squadron, 
at  an  encampment  on  the  isthmus  I  have  de- 
scribed, a  position  which  commanded  a  full 
view  of  Lancaster  Sound  to  the  east  of  south, 
and  of  Welhngton  Channel  extending  north. 
It  may  be  fairly  inferred,  also,  that  the  gen- 
eral health  of  the  crews  had  not  suffered 
severely,  three  only  having  died  out  of  a 
hundred  and  thirty  odd;  and  that  in  addi- 
tion to  the  ordinary  details  of  duty,  they 
were  occupied  in  conducting  and  computing 
astronomical  observations,  making  sledges, 
preparing  their  little  anti-scorbutic  garden 
patches,  and  exploring  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  channel.  Many  facts  that  we  ourselves 
observed  made  it  seem  probable  that  Frank- 
lin had  not,  in  the  first  instance,  been  able 
to  prosecute  his  instructions  for  the  Western 
search;  and  the  examinations  made  so  fully 
since  by  Captain  Austin's  officers  have 
proved  that  he  never  reached  Cape  Walker, 
Banks'  Land,  Melville  Island,  Prince  Re- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     53 

gent's  Inlet,  or  any  point  of  the  sound  con- 
siderably to  the  west  or  southwest.  The 
whole  story  of  our  combined  operations  in 
and  about  the  channel  shows  that  it  is  along 
its  eastern  margin  that  the  water-leads  oc- 
cur most  frequently:  natural  causes  of  gen- 
eral application  may  be  assigned  for  this, 
some  of  which  will  readily  suggest  them- 
selves to  the  physicist ;  but  I  have  only  to  do 
here  with  the  recognized  fact. 

So  far  I  think  we  proceed  safely.  The 
rest  is  conjectural.  Let  us  suppose  the  sea- 
son for  renewed  progress  to  be  approaching; 
Franklin  and  his  crews,  with  their  vessels, 
one  or  both,  looking  out  anxiously  from  their 
narrow  isthmus  for  the  first  openmgs  of  the 
ice.  They  come :  a  gale  of  wind  has  severed 
the  pack,  and  the  drift  begins.  The  first 
clear  water  that  would  meet  his  eye  would  be 
close  to  the  shore  on  which  he  had  his  en- 
campment. Would  he  wait  till  the  continued 
drift  had  made  the  navigation  practicable 
in  Lancaster  Sound,  and  then  retrace  his 
steps  to  try  the  upper  regions  of  Baffin's 
Bay,  which  he  could  not  reach  without  a  long 
circuit;   or  would   he   press   to   the   north 


54     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

through  the  open  lead  that  lay  before  him? 
Those  who  know  Franklin's  character,  his 
declared  opinions,  his  determined  purpose, 
so  well  portrayed  in  the  lately  pubhshed 
letters  of  one  of  his  officers,  will  hardly  think 
the  question  difficult  to  answer:  his  sledges 
had  already  pioneered  the  way.  We,  the 
searchers,  were  ourselves  tempted,  by  the  in- 
sidious openings  to  the  north  in  Wellington 
Channel,  to  push  on  in  the  hope  that  some 
lucky  chance  might  point  us  to  an  outlet 
beyond.  Might  not  the  same  temptation 
have  had  its  influence  for  Sir  John  Frank- 
Hn?  A  careful  and  daring  navigator,  such 
as  he  was,  would  not  wait  for  the  lead  to 
close.  I  can  imagine  the  dispatch  with 
which  the  observatory  would  be  dismantled, 
the  armorer's  establishment  broken  up,  and 
the  camp  vacated.  I  can  understand  how 
the  preserved  meat  cans,  not  very  valuable, 
yet  not  worthless,  might  be  left  piled  upon 
the  shore;  how  one  man  might  leave  his 
mittens,  another  his  blanket  coat,  and  a  third 
hurry  over  the  search  for  his  lost  key.  And 
if  I  were  required  to  conjecture  some  ex- 
planation of  the  empty  signal  cairn,  I  do  not 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     55 

know  what  I  could  refer  it  to  but  the  ex- 
citment  attendant  on  just  such  a  sudden 
and  unexpected  release  from  a  weary  im- 
prisonment, and  the  instant  prospect  of  en- 
ergetic and  perilous  adventure. 


CHAPTER  III 

''      A      ^^^'^^  28.     Strange  enough, 
/%       during  the  night.  Captain  Aus- 
/     ^     tin,    of   her   majesty's    search 
squadron,  with  his  flag-ship  the 
Resolute,  entered  the  same  httle  indentation 
in  which  five  of  us  were  moored  before.    His 
steam-tender,  the  Pioneer,  grounded  off  the 
point  of  Beechy  Island,  and  is  now  in  sight, 
canted  over  by  the  ice  nearly  to  her  beam 
ends.     He  has  come  to  us  not  of  design,  but 
under  the  irresistible  guidance  of  the  ice. 
We  are  now  seven  vessels  within  hailing  dis- 
tance, not  counting  Captain  Ommanney's, 
imbedded  in  the  field  to  the  westward. 

"I  called  this  morning  on  Sir  John  Ross, 
and  had  a  long  talk  with  him.  He  said  that, 
as  far  back  as  1847,  anticipating  the  'deten- 
tion' of  Sir  John  Franklin — I  use  his  own 
word — he  had  volunteered  his  services  for 
an  expedition  of  retrieve,  asking  for  the  pur- 
pose four  small  vessels,  something  like  our 

56 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     57 

own ;  but  no  one  listened  to  him.  Volunteer- 
ing again  in  1848,  he  was  told  that  his 
nephew's  claim  to  the  service  had  received  a 
recognition;  whereupon  his  own  was  with- 
drawn. 'I  told  Sir  John,'  said  Ross,  'that 
my  own  experience  in  these  seas  proved  that 
all  these  sounds  and  inlets  may,  by  the  ca- 
price or  even  the  routine  of  seasons,  be  closed 
so  as  to  prevent  any  egress,  and  that  a  miss- 
ing or  shut-off  party  must  have  some  means 
of  falling  back.  It  was  thus  I  saved  myself 
from  the  abandoned  Victory  by  a  previously 
constructed  house  for  wintering,  and  a  boat 
for  temporary  refuge.'  All  this,  he  says,  he 
pressed  on  Sir  John  Franklin  before  he  set 
out,  and  he  thinks  that  Melville  Island  is  now 
the  seat  of  such  a  house-asylum.  'For,  de- 
pend upon  it,'  he  added,  'Franklin  will  be 
expecting  some  of  us  to  be  following  on  his 
traces.  Now,  may  it  be  that  the  party, 
whose  winter  quarters  we  have  discovered, 
sent  out  only  exploring  detachments  along 
Wellington  Sound  in  the  spring,  and  then, 
when  themselves  released,  continued  on  to 
the  west,  by  Cape  Hotham  and  Barrow's 
Straits  ?'     I  have  given  this  extract  from  my 


58     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

journal,  though  the  theory  it  suggests  has 
since  been  disproved  by  Lieutenant  M'CHn- 
tock,  because  the  tone  and  language  of  Sir 
John  Ross  may  be  regarded  as  characteristic 
of  this  manly  old  seaman. 

"I  next  visited  the  Resolute.  I  shall  not 
here  say  how  their  perfect  organization  and 
provision  for  winter  contrasted  with  those 
of  our  own  little  expedition.  I  had  to  shake 
ofp  a  feeling  almost  of  despondency  when  I 
saw  how  much  better  fitted  they  were  to 
grapple  with  the  grim  enemy,  Cold.  Win- 
ter, if  we  may  judge  of  it  by  the  clothing  and 
warming  appliances  of  the  British  squadron, 
must  be  something  beyond  our  power  to 
cope  with ;  for,  in  comparison  with  them,  we 
have  nothing,  absolutely  nothing. 

"The  officers  received  me,  for  I  was  alone, 
with  the  cordiality  of  recognized  brother- 
hood. They  are  a  gentlemanly,  well-edu- 
cated set  of  men,  thoroughly  up  to  the  his- 
tory of  what  has  been  done  by  others,  and 
full  of  personal  resource.  Among  them  I 
was  rejoiced  to  meet  an  old  acquaintance. 
Lieutenant  Brown,  whose  admirably  artistic 
sketches  I  had  seen  in  Haghe's  lithotints,  at 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     59 

Mr.  Grinnell's,  before  leaving  New  York. 
When  we  were  together  last,  it  was  among 
the  tropical  jungles  of  Luzon,  surrounded 
by  the  palm,  the  cycas,  and  bamboo,  in  the 
glowing  extreme  of  vegetable  exuberance: 
here  we  are  met  once  more,  in  the  stinted  re- 
gion of  lichen  and  mosses.  He  was  then  a 
junior,  under  Sir  Edward  Belcher:  I — 
what  I  am  yet.  The  lights  and  shadows  of 
a  naval  life  are  nowhere  better,  and,  alas! 
nowhere  worse  displayed,  than  in  these  re- 
mote accidental  greetings. 

"Returning,  I  paid  a  visit  to  Penny's 
vessels,  and  formed  a  very  agreeable  ac- 
quaintance with  the  medical  officer.  Dr.  R. 
Anstruther  Goodsir,  a  brother  of  assistant 
surgeon  Goodsir  of  Franklin's  flag-ship. 

"In  commemoration  of  the  gathering  of 
the  searching  squadrons  within  the  little  cove 
of  Beechy  Point,  Commodore  Austin  has 
named  it,  very  appropriately,  Union  Bay. 
It  is  here  the  Mary  is  deposited  as  an  asylum 
to  fall  back  upon  in  case  of  disaster. 

"The  sun  is  traveling  rapidly  to  the  south, 
so  that  our  recently  glaring  midnight  is  now 
a  twilight  gloom.     The  coloring  over  the 


60     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

hills  at  Point  Innes  this  evening  was  sombre, 
but  in  deep  reds;  and  the  sky  had  an  in- 
hospitable coldness.  It  made  me  thoughtful 
to  see  the  long  shadows  stretching  out  upon 
the  snow  toward  the  isthmus  of  the  Graves. 

"The  wind  is  from  the  north  and  west- 
ward, and  the  ice  is  so  driven  in  around  us  as 
to  grate  and  groan  against  the  sides  of  our 
little  vessel.  The  masses,  though  small,  are 
very  thick,  and  by  the  surging  of  the  sea 
have  been  rubbed  as  round  as  pebbles. 
They  make  an  abominable  noise." 

The  remaining  days  of  August  were  not 
characterized  by  any  incident  of  note.  We 
had  the  same  alternations  of  progress  and  re- 
treat through  the  ice  as  before,  and  with- 
out sensibly  advancing  toward  the  western 
shore,  which  it  was  now  our  object  to  reach. 
The  next  extracts  from  my  journal  are  of  the 
date  of  SeiDtember  3. 

"After  floating  down,  warping,  to  avoid 
the  loose  ice,  we  finally  cast  off  in  compara- 
tively open  water,  and  began  beating  to- 
ward Cape  Spencer  to  get  round  the  field. 
Once  there,  we  got  along  finely,  sinking  the 
eastern  shore  by  degrees,  and  nearing  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     61 

undelineated  coasts  of  Cornwallis  Island. 
White  whales,  narwhals,  seals — among  them 
the  Phoca  leonina  with  his  puffed  cheeks — 
and  two  bears,  were  seen. 

"The  ice  is  tremendous,  far  ahead  of  any- 
thing we  have  met  with.  The  thickness  of 
the  upraised  tables  is  sometimes  fourteen 
feet;  and  the  hummocks  are  so  gi'ound  and 
distorted  by  the  rude  attrition  of  the  floes, 
that  they  rise  up  in  cones  like  crushed  sugar, 
some  of  them  forty  feet  high.  But  that  the 
queer  life  we  are  leading — a  life  of  constant 
exposure  and  excitement,  and  one  that  seems 
more  like  the  'roughing  it'  of  a  land  party 
than  the  life  of  shipboard — has  inured  us  to 
the  eccentric  fancies  of  the  ice,  our  position 
would  be  a  sleepless  one. 

"September  4,  2  a.m.  Was  awakened  by 
Captain  De  Haven  to  look  at  the  ice:  an  im- 
pressive sight.  We  were  fast  with  three 
anchors  to  the  main  floe;  and  now,  though 
the  wind  was  still  from  the  northward,  and 
therefore  in  opposition  to  the  drift,  the  float- 
ing masses  under  the  action  of  the  tide  came 
with  a  westward  trend  directly  past  us. 
Fortunately,  they  were  not  borne  down  upon 


62     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  vessels ;  but,  as  they  went  by  in  slow  pro- 
cession to  the  west,  our  sensations  were,  to 
say  the  least,  sensations.  It  was  very  grand 
to  see  up-piled  blocks  twenty  feet  and  more 
above  our  heads,  and  to  wonder  whether  this 
fellow  would  strike  our  main-yard  or  clear 
our  stern.  Some  of  the  moving  hummocks 
were  thirty  feet  high.  They  grazed  us ;  but 
a  little  projection  of  the  main  field  to  wind- 
ward shied  them  off. 

"I  killed  to-day  my  first  polar  bear.  We 
made  the  animal  on  a  large  floe  to  the  north- 
ward while  we  were  sighting  the  western 
shores  of  Wellington,  and  of  course  could 
not  stop  to  shoot  bears.  But  he  took  to  the 
water  ahead  of  us,  and  came  so  near  that  we 
fired  at  him  from  the  bows  of  the  vessel. 
Mr.  Lovell  and  myself  fired  so  simultane- 
ously, that  we  had  to  weigh  the  ball  to  de- 
termine which  had  hit.  My  bullet  struck 
exactly  in  the  ear,  the  mark  I  had  aimed  at, 
for  he  had  only  his  head  above  water.  The 
young  ice  was  forming  so  rapidly  around  us 
that  it  was  hard  work  getting  him  on  board. 
I  was  one  of  the  oarsmen,  and  sweated 
rarely,  with  the  thermometer  at  25°. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     63 

"On  the  way  back  I  succeeded  in  hitting 
an  enormous  seal ;  but,  much  to  my  mortifica- 
tion, he  sunk,  after  floating  till  we  nearly 
reached  him. 

"Without  any  organization,  and  with  very 
httle  time  for  the  hunt,  the  Advance  now 
counts  upon  her  game  hst  two  polar  bears, 
three  seals,  a  single  goose,  and  a  fair  table  al- 
lowance of  loons,  divers,  and  snipes.  The 
Rescue  boasts  of  four  bears,  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  small  game,  a  couple  of  Arctic 
hares.  Our  solitary  goose  was  the  Anas 
bernicla,  crowds  of  which  now  begin  to  fly 
over  the  land  and  ice  in  cunoid  streams  to 
the  east  of  south.  It  was  killed  by  Mr. 
Murdaugh  with  a  rifle,  on  the  wing. 

"How  very  much  I  miss  my  good  home 
assortment  of  hunting  materials !  We  have 
not  a  decent  gun  on  board;  as  for  the  rifle 
I  am  now  shooting,  it  is  a  flintlock  concern, 
and  half  the  time  hangs  fire." 

The  next  morning  found  me  at  work  skin- 
ning my  bear,  not  a  pleasant  task  with  the 
thermometer  below  the  freezing  point.  He 
was  a  noble  specimen,  larger  than  the  larg- 
est recorded  by  Parry,  measuring  eight  feet 


64     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

eight  inches  and  three  quarters  from  tip  to 
tip.  I  presented  the  skin,  on  my  retm-n 
home,  to  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences 
at  Philadelphia. 

The  carcass  was  larger  than  that  of  an 
ordinary  ox  fatted  for  market.  We  esti- 
mated his  weight  at  nearly  sixteen  hundred 
pounds.  In  build  he  was  very  soHd,  and  the 
muscles  of  the  arms  and  haunch  fearfully 
developed.  I  once  before  compared  the 
posterior  aspect  of  the  Arctic  bear  to  an  ele- 
phant's. All  my  mess-mates  used  the  same 
comparison.  The  extreme  roundness  of  his 
back  and  haunches,  with  the  columnar  char- 
acter of  the  legs,  and  the  round  expansion  of 
the  feet,  give  you  the  impression  of  a  small 
elephant.  The  plantigrade  base  of  support 
overlapped  by  long  hair  heightens  the  re- 
semblance. The  head  and  neck,  of  course, 
are  excluded  from  the  comparison. 

At  five  in  the  afternoon  we  succeeded  in 
reaching  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the 
shore  off  Barlow's  Inlet,  and  made  fast  there 
to  the  floe.  This  inlet  is  but  a  few  miles 
from  Cape  Hotham,  and  is  marked  on  the 
charts  as  a  mere  interruption  of  the  coast 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     65 

line.  Parry,  who  named  it,  must  have  had 
wonderfully  favoring  weather  to  sight  so  ac- 
curately an  insignificant  cove.  He  was  a 
practiced  hydrographer. 

The  limestone  cliffs  rise  on  each  side, 
forming  stupendous  piers  gnarled  by  frost 
degradation,  between  which  is  the  entrance, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide.  The  mo- 
ment our  little  vessel  entered  the  shadow  of 
these  cliffs,  a  quiet  gloom  took  the  place  of 
busthng  movement.  We  ground  our  way 
into  the  newly-formed  ice,  and,  after  making 
a  couple  of  ships'  lengths,  found  ourselves 
within  a  sort  of  cape  of  land  floe,  surrounded 
by  high  hummocks  and  anchored  bergs.  It 
was  a  melancholy  spot;  not  one  warm  sun 
tint;  everything  blank,  repulsive  sterility. 

"September  6.  The  captain,  Mr.  Mur- 
daugh,  Mr.  Carter,  and  myself  started  on  a 
walk  of  exploration.  The  distance  between 
the  brig  and  the  shore  is  not  over  three  hun- 
dred yards,  but  the  travel  was  arduous. 
The  ice  was  eight  and  ten  feet  thick,  studded 
with  broken  bergs  and  hummocks.  These 
fragments  were  seldom  larger  than  our 
Rensselaer  dining-room,  some  twenty  feet 


66    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

square,  and,  owing  either  to  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  tides  or  the  piling  action  of  storms, 
deep  crevices  were  formed  around  their 
edges,  partially  masked  by  the  snow  which 
had  found  its  way  into  them,  and  by  an  icy 
crust  over  the  surface.  Alternately  jump- 
ing these  crevices  and  clambering  up  the 
hummocks  between  them  made  it  a  danger- 
ous walk.  We  had  some  narrow  escapes. 
Reaching  the  shore,  we  pushed  forward 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  to  the  head  of  the 
inlet,  and  then  crossed  over  on  the  ice  to  a 
cairn  that  stood  near  it.  We  found  noth- 
ing but  a  communication  from  Captain 
Ommanney,  whose  vessels  we  saw  as  we  en- 
tered the  lead  yesterday,  informing  the 
Secretary  of  the  Admiralty  that  he  had  been 
off  this  place  since  the  24th,  and  that  'no 
traces  are  to  be  found  on  Cornwallis  Island 
of  the  party  under  Sir  John  Franklin' — a 
somewhat  too  confident  assertion  perhaps, 
seeing  that  the  island,  if  it  be  one,  is  more 
than  fifty  miles  across,  and  that  the  observa- 
tions can  hardly  have  extended  beyond  the 
coast  line. 

"September  7.     The  spot  at  which  we 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     67 

have  been  Ij^ing  is  in  front  of  Barlow's  Inlet. 
There  is  no  barrier  between  it  and  our  vessels 
but  the  young  ice,  w^hich  has  now  attained  a 
thickness  of  three  inches.  On  the  east  we 
have  the  drift  plain  of  Wellington  Channel, 
impacted  with  floes,  hummocks,  and  broken 
bergs;  and  to  the  south  we  look  out  upon  a 
wild  aggregation  of  enormous  hummocks. 
These  hummocks  are  totally  unlike  anything 
we  saw  in  Baffin's  Bay.  They  seem  to  have 
been  so  disintegrated  by  the  conflicting 
forces  that  raised  them  as  to  have  lost  alto- 
gether the  character  of  tables.  If  hogs- 
head upon  hogshead  of  crushed  sugar  had 
been  emptied  out  at  random,  two  or  three 
in  one  pile,  and  two  or  three  ship  loads  in  an- 
other, and  the  summits  of  these  irregular 
heaps  were  covered  over  with  a  succession  of 
layers  of  snow,  and  the  heaps  themselves 
multiphed  in  number  indefinitely,  and 
crowded  together  in  a  disordered  phalanx, 
they  would  look  a  good  deal  like  the  hum- 
mock field  some  twenty  yards  south  of  us. 
These  fearful  masses  are  all  anchored,  sohd 
hills,  rising  thirty  feet  above  the  level  from 
a  bottom  twenty-two  feet  below  it. 


68     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"Our  situation  might  be  regarded  as  an 
ugly  one  in  some  states  of  the  wind,  but  for 
the  solid  main  floe  to  the  north  of  us.  This 
projected  from  the  cliff,  which  served  as  an 
abutment  for  it ;  and,  after  forming  a  sort  of 
cape  outside  of  our  position,  extended  with 
a  horseshoe  sweep  to  the  northward  and  east- 
ward, as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  following 
the  trend  of  the  shore.  It  formed,  of  course, 
a  reliable  breakwater.  Commodore  Aus- 
tin's vessels  were  made  fast  to  it  some  dis- 
tance to  the  north  and  east  of  us. 

"The  barometer  had  given  us,  in  the  early 
morning  of  the  4th,  29.90,  since  when  it  rose 
steadily  till  the  5th,  at  6  a.m.,  when  it  stood 
30.38.  For  the  next  twenty-four  hours  it 
fluctuated  between  .33  and  .37 ;  but  at  6  a.m. 
of  the  6th,  it  again  began  to  rise;  by  mid- 
night, it  had  reached  30.44;  and  before  ten 
o'clock  P.M.  of  the  7th,  it  was  at  the  un- 
wonted height  of  30.68.  At  2  p.m.  the  wind 
had  changed  from  S.S.E.  to  N.N.E.,  and 
went  on  increasing  to  a  gale. 

"We  were  seated  cosily  around  our  little 
table  in  the  cabin,  imagining  our  harbor  of 
land  ice   perfectly   secure,  when  we  were 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     69 

startled  by  a  crash.  We  rushed  on  deck 
just  in  time  to  see  the  sohd  floe  to  windward 
part  in  the  middle,  liberate  itself  from  its 
attachment  to  the  shore,  and  bear  down  upon 
us  with  the  full  energy  of  the  storm.  Our 
lee  bristled  ominously  half  a  ship's  length 
from  us,  and  to  the  east  was  the  main  drift. 
The  Rescue  was  first  caught,  nipped  astern, 
and  lifted  bodily  out  of  water;  fortu- 
nately she  withstood  the  pressure,  and  rising 
till  she  snapped  her  cable,  launched  into  open 
water,  crushing  the  young  ice  before  her. 
The  Advance,  by  hard  warping,  drew  a 
little  closer  to  the  cove ;  and,  a  moment  after, 
the  ice  drove  by,  just  clearing  our  stern. 
Commodore  Austin's  vessels  were  impris- 
oned in  the  moving  fragments,  and  carried 
helplessly  past  us.  In  a  very  little  while 
they  were  some  four  miles  off." 

The  summer  was  now  leaving  us  rapidly. 
The  thermometer  had  been  at  21°  and  23° 
for  several  nights,  and  scarcely  rose  above 
32°  in  the  daytime.  Our  httle  harbor  at 
Barlow's  Inlet  was  completely  blocked  in  by 
heavy  masses;  the  new  ice  gave  plenty  of 
sport  to  the  skaters ;  but  on  shipboard  it  was 


70     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

uncomfortably  cold.  As  yet  we  had  no  fires 
below;  and,  after  drawing  around  me  the 
India-rubber  curtains  of  my  berth,  with  my 
lamp  burning  inside,  I  frequently  wrote  my 
journal  in  a  freezing  temperature.  "This 
is  not  very  cold,  no  doubt" — I  quote  from  an 
entry  of  the  8th — "not  very  cold  to  your 
forty-five  minus  men  of  Arctic  winters;  but 
to  us  poor  devils  from  the  zone  of  the  lirio- 
dendrons  and  peaches,  it  is  rather  cold  for  the 
September  month  of  water-melons.  My 
bear  with  his  arsenic  swabs  is  a  solid  lump, 
and  some  birds  that  are  waiting  to  be  skinned 
are  absolutely  rigid  with  frost." 

In  the  afternoon  of  this  day,  the  8th,  we 
went  to  work,  all  hands,  officers  included,  to 
cut  up  the  young  ice  and  tow  it  out  into  the 
current:  once  there,  the  drift  carried  it  rap- 
idly to  the  south.  We  cleared  away  in  this 
manner  a  space  of  some  forty  yards  square, 
and  at  five  the  next  morning  were  rewarded 
by  being  again  under  weigh.  We  were  past 
Cape  Hotham  by  breakfast-time  on  the  9th, 
and  in  the  afternoon  were  beating  to  the  west 
in  Lancaster  Sound. 

"The  sound  presented  a  novel  spectacle 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     71 

to  us ;  the  young  ice  glazing  it  over,  so  as  to 
form  a  viscid  sea  of  sludge  and  tichly-hend- 
ers,  from  the  northern  shore  to  the  pack,  a 
distance  of  at  least  ten  miles.  This  was 
mingled  with  the  drift  floes  from  Welling- 
ton Channel;  and  in  them,  steaming  away 
manfully,  were  the  Resolute  and  Pioneer. 
The  wind  was  dead  ahead;  yet,  but  for  the 
new  ice,  there  was  a  clear  sea  to  the  west. 
What,  then,  was  our  mortification,  first,  to 
see  our  pack-bound  neighbors  force  them- 
selves from  their  prison  and  steam  ahead 
dead  in  the  wind's  eye,  and,  next,  to  be  over- 
hauled by  Penny,  and  passed  by  both  his 
brigs.  We  are  now  the  last  of  all  the  search- 
ers, except  perhaps  old  Sir  John,  who  is 
probably  yet  in  Union  Bay,  or  at  least  east 
of  the  straits. 

"The  shores  along  which  we  are  passing 
are  of  the  same  configuration  with  the  coast 
to  the  east  of  Beechy  Island ;  the  cliffs,  how- 
ever, are  not  so  high,  and  their  bluff  appear- 
ance is  relieved  occasionally  by  terraces  and 
shingle  beach.  The  lithological  characters 
of  the  limestone  appear  to  be  the  same. 

"We  are  all  together  here,  on  a  single 


72     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

track  but  little  wider  than  the  Delaware  or 
Hudson.  There  is  no  getting  out  of  it,  for 
the  shore  is  on  one  side  and  the  fixed  ice 
close  on  the  other.  All  have  the  lead  of  us, 
and  we  are  working  only  to  save  a  distance. 
Ommanney  must  be  near  Melville  by  this 
time:  pleasant,  very! 

"Closing  memoranda  for  the  day:  1.  I 
have  the  rheumatism  in  my  knees;  2.  I  left 
a  bag  containing  my  dress  suit  of  uniforms, 
and,  what  is  worse,  my  winter  suit  of  furs, 
and  with  them  my  double-barrel  gun,  on 
board  Austin's  vessel.  The  gale  of  the  7th 
has  carried  him  and  them  out  of  sight. 

''September  10.  Unaccountable,  most 
unaccountable,  the  caprices  of  this  ice-locked 
region!  Here  we  are  again  all  together, 
even  Ommanney  with  the  rest.  The  Meso- 
lute.  Intrepid,  Assistance,  Pioneer,  Lady 
Franklin,  Sopliia,  Advance,  and  Rescue; 
Austin,  Ommanney,  Penny,  and  De  Haven, 
all  anchored  to  the  'fast'  off  Griffith's  Island. 
The  way  to  the  west  completely  shut  out." 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  succeeding  pages  are  very 
little  else  than  a  transcript  from 
my  journal.  It  would  have  been 
easy  to  condense  them  into  a  more 
attractive  form;  but  they  relate  to  the  fur- 
thest limits  of  our  cruise,  "long arum  meta 
Viarum"  and  some  of  the  topics  which  they 
embrace  may  perhaj^s  invite  that  sort  of 
evidence  which  is  best  furnished  by  a  con- 
temporary record. 

"September  11,  Wednesday.  Snow,  light 
and  fleecy,  covering  the  decks,  and  carried 
by  our  clothes  into  our  little  cabin.  The 
moisture  of  the  atmosphere  condenses  over 
the  beams,  and  trickles  down  over  the  lock- 
ers and  bedding.  We  are  still  alongside  of 
the  fixed  ice  oif  Griffith's  Island,  and  the 
British  squadron  under  Commodore  Austin 
are  clustered  together  within  three  hundred 
yards  of  us.  Penny,  like  an  indefatigable 
old  trump,  as  he  is,  is  out,  pushing,  working, 

73 


74     ADRIFT  IN  TPIE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

groping  in  the  fog.  The  sludge  ice,  that 
had  driven  in  around  us  and  ahnost  con- 
gealed under  our  stern,  is  now  by  the  ebb  of 
the  tide,  or  at  least  its  change,  carried  out 
again,  although  the  wind  still  sets  toward  the 
floe. 

"September  12,  Thursday.  We  have  had 
a  rough  night.  About  4  p.m.,  the  heavy 
snow  which  had  covered  our  decks  changed 
to  a  driving  drift ;  the  wind  blew  a  gale  from 
the  northwest,  and  the  thermometer  fell  as 
low  as  +16^.  AU  the  squadron  of  search, 
with  the  exception  of  Penny,  were  fastened 
by  ice-anchors  to  the  main  ice ;  but  the  great 
obscurity  made  us  invisible  to  each  other. 

"At  three  the  Rescue  parted  her  cable's 
hold,  and  was  carried  out  to  sea,  leaving  two 
men,  her  boat,  and  her  anchors  behind.  We 
snapped  our  stern-cable,  lost  our  anchor, 
swung  out,  but  fortunately  held  by  the  for- 
ward line.  All  the  English  vessels  were  in 
similar  peril,  the  Pioneer  being  at  one  time 
actually  free;  and  Commodore  Austin,  who 
in  the  Resolute  occupied  the  head  of  the 
line,  was  in  momentary  fear  of  coming  down 
upon  us.     Altogether  I  have  seldom  seen  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     75 

night  of  greater  trial.  The  wind  roared 
over  the  snow  floes,  and  every  thing  about 
the  vessel  froze  into  heavy  ice  stalactites. 
Had  the  main  floe  parted,  we  had  been  car- 
ried down  with  the  liberated  ice.  Fortu- 
nately, every  thing  held;  and  here  we  are, 
safe  and  sound.  The  Rescue  was  last  seen 
beating  to  windward  against  the  gale,  prob- 
ably seeking  a  lee  under  Griffith's  Island. 
This  morning  the  snow  continues  in  the  form 
of  a  fine  cutting  drift,  the  water  freezes 
wherever  it  touches,  and  the  thermometer 
has  been  at  no  time  above  17°. 

''September  12,  10  p.m.  Just  from  deck. 
How  ver}^  dismal  every  thing  seems!  The 
snow  is  driven  Hke  sand  upon  a  level  beach, 
lifted  up  in  long  curve  lines,  and  then  ob- 
scuring the  atmosphere  with  a  white  dark- 
ness. The  wind,  too,  is  howling  in  a  shrill 
minor,  singing  across  the  hummock  ridges. 
The  eight  vessels  are  no  longer  here.  The 
Rescue  is  driven  out  to  sea,  and  poor  Penny 
is  probably  to  the  southward.  Five  black 
masses,  however,  their  cordage  defined  by 
rime  and  snow,  are  seen  with  their  snouts 
shoved  into  the  shore  of  ice:  cables,  chains. 


76    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

and  anchors  are  covered  feet  below  the  drift, 
and  the  ships  adhere  mysteriously,  their 
tackle  completely  invisible.  Should  any  of 
us  break  away,  the  gale  would  carry  us  into 
streams  of  heavy  floating  ice;  and  our  run- 
ning rigging  is  so  coated  with  icicles  as  to 
make  it  impossible  to  work  it.  The  ther- 
mometer stands  at  14°. 

"At  this  temperature  the  young  ice  forms 
in  spite  of  the  increasing  movement  of  the 
waves,  stretching  out  from  the  floe  in  long, 
zigzag  lines  of  smoothness  resembhng 
watered  silk.  The  loose  ice  seems  to  have 
a  southerly  and  easterly  drift ;  and,  from  the 
increasing  distance  of  Griffith's  Island,  seen 
during  occasional  intervals,  we  are  evidently 
moving  en  masse  to  the  south. 

"Now  when  you  remember  that  we  are  in 
open  sea,  attached  to  precarious  ice,  and  sur- 
rounded by  floating  streams ;  that  the  coast  is 
unknown,  and  the  ice  forming  inshore,  so  as 
to  make  harbors,  if  we  knew  of  them,  inac- 
cessible, you  may  suppose  that  our  position 
is  far  from  pleasant.  One  harbor  was  dis- 
covered by  a  lieutenant  of  the  Assistance 
some  days  ago,  and  named  Assistance  Har- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     77 

bor,  but  that  is  out  of  the  question ;  the  wind 
is  not  only  a  gale,  but  ahead.  Had  we  the 
quarters  of  Capua  before  us,  we  should  be 
unable  to  reach  them.  It  is  a  windward 
shore. 

"11  P.M.  Captain  De  Haven  reports  ice 
forming  fast:  extra  anchors  are  out;  ther- 
mometer +8°.  The  British  squadron,  un- 
der Austin,  have  fires  in  full  blast:  we  are 
without  them  still. 

"12  M.  In  bed,  reading  or  trying  to  read. 
The  gale  has  increased ;  the  floes  are  in  upon 
us  from  the  eastward ;  and  it  is  evident  that 
we  are  all  of  us  drifting  bodily,  God  knows 
where,  for  we  have  no  means  of  taking  ob- 
servations. 

"Seiotemher  13, 10  a.m.  Found,  on  wak- 
ing, that  at  about  three  this  morning  the 
squadron  commenced  getting  under  weigh. 
The  rime-coated  rigging  was  cleared;  the 
hawsers  thashed;*  the  ice-clogged  boats 
hauled  in;  the  steamers  steamed,  and  off 
went  the  rest  of  us  as  we  might.  This  step 
was  not  taken  a  whit  too  soon,  if  it  be  or- 
dained  that  we   are  yet  in  time;   for  the 

*  So  in  the  original.     Evidently  a  misprint. —  (Ed.) 


78     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

stream-ice  covers  the  entire  horizon,  and  the 
large  floe  or  main  which  we  have  deserted  is 
barely  separated  from  the  drifting  masses. 
The  Rescue  is  now  the  object  of  our  search. 
Could  she  be  found,  the  captain  has  deter- 
mined to  turn  his  steps  homeward. 

"11 :20  A.M.  We  are  working,  i,  e.,  beating 
our  way  in  the  narrow  leads  intervening  ir- 
regularly between  the  main  ice  and  the  drift. 
We  have  gained  at  least  two  miles  to  wind- 
ward of  Austin's  squadron,  who  are  unable, 
in  spite  of  steamers,  to  move  along  these 
dangerous  passages  like  ourselves.  Our  ob- 
ject is  to  reach  Griffith's  Island,  from  which 
we  have  drifted  some  fifteen  miles  with  the 
main  ice,  and  then  look  out  for  our  lost  con- 
sort. 

"The  lowest  temperature  last  night  was 
+5°,  but  the  wind  makes  it  colder  to  sensa- 
tion. We  are  grinding  through  newly- 
formed  ice  three  inches  thick;  the  perfect 
consolidation  being  prevented  by  its  motion 
and  the  wind.  Even  in  the  httle  fireless 
cabin  in  which  I  now  write,  water  and  coffee 
are  freezing,  and  the  mercury  stands  at  29°. 

"The  navigation  is  certainly  exciting.     I 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     79 

have  never  seen  a  description  in  my  Arctic 
readings  of  any  thing  like  this.  We  are 
literally  running  for  our  lives,  surrounded 
by  the  imminent  hazards  of  sudden  consolida- 
tion in  an  open  sea.  All  minor  perils,  nips, 
humps,  and  sunken  bergs  are  discarded;  we 
are  staggering  along  under  all  sail,  forcing 
our  way  while  we  can.  One  thump,  received 
since  I  commenced  writing,  jerked  the  time- 
keeper from  our  binnacle  down  the  cabin 
hatch,  and,  but  for  our  strong  bows,  seven 
and  a  half  solid  feet,  would  have  stove  us  in. 
Another  time,  we  cleared  a  tongue  of  the 
main  pack  by  riding  it  down  at  eight  knots. 
Commodore  Austin  seems  caught  by  the  clos- 
ing floes.     This  is  really  sharp  work. 

"4  P.M.  We  continued  beating  toward 
Griffith's  Island,  till,  by  doubling  a  tongue 
of  ice,  we  were  able  to  force  our  way.  The 
English  seemed  to  watch  our  movements, 
and  almost  to  follow  in  our  wake,  till  we 
came  to  a  comparatively  open  space,  about 
the  area  of  Washington  Square,  where  we 
stood  off  and  on,  the  ice  being  too  close  upon 
the  eastern  end  of  Griffith's  Island  to  permit 
us  to  pass.     Our  companions  in  this  little 


80     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

vacancy  were  Captain  Ommanney's  Assist- 
ance, Osborne's  steam  tender  the  Pioneer^, 
and  Kater's  steamer  the  Intrepid.  Com- 
modore Austin's  vessel  was  to  the  southward, 
entangled  in  the  moving  ice,  but  momentar- 
ily nearing  the  open  leads. 

"While  thus  boxing  about  on  one  of  our 
tacks,  we  neared  the  north  edge  of  our  little 
opening,  and  were  hailed  by  the  Assistance 
with  the  glad  intelhgence  of  the  Rescue  close 
under  the  island.  Our  captain,  who  was  at 
his  usual  post,  conning  the  ship  from  the 
foretop-sail  yard,  made  her  out  at  the  same 
time,  and  immediately  determined  upon  bor- 
ing the  intervening  ice.  This  was  done  suc- 
cessfully, the  brig  bearing  the  hard  knocks 
nobly.  Strange  to  say,  the  Enghsh  vessels, 
now  joined  by  Austin,  followed  in  our  wake 
— a  compliment,  certainly,  to  De  Haven's 
ice-mastership. 

"We  were  no  sooner  through,  than  signal 
was  made  to  the  Rescue  to  'cast  off,'  and  our 
ensign  was  run  up  from  the  peak:  the  cap- 
tain had  determined  upon  attempting  a  re- 
turn to  the  United  States." 

It  could  not  be  my  office  to  discuss  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     81 

policy  of  this  step,  even  if  the  question  were 
one  of  pohcy  alone.  But  it  was  one  of  in- 
structions. The  Navy  Department,  imitat- 
ing in  this  the  Enghsh  Board  of  Admiralty, 
had,  in  its  orders  to  our  commander,  marked 
out  to  him  the  course  of  the  expedition,  and 
had  enjoined  that,  unless  under  special  cir- 
cumstances, he  should  "endeavor  not  to  be 
caught  in  the  ice  during  the  winter,  but  that 
he  should,  after  completing  his  examina- 
tions for  the  season,  make  his  escape,  and 
return  to  New  York  in  the  fall."  In  the 
judgment  of  Commodore  De  Haven,  these 
special  circumstances  did  not  exist;  and  he 
felt  himself,  therefore,  controlled  by  the  gen- 
eral terms  of  the  injunction.  I  believe  that 
there  was  but  one  feeling  among  the  officers 
of  our  little  squadron,  that  of  unmitigated 
regret  that  we  were  no  longer  to  co-operate 
with  our  gallant  associates  under  the  sister 
flag.  Our  intercourse  with  them  had  been 
most  cordial  from  the  very  first.  We  had 
interchanged  many  courtesies,  and  I  should 
be  sorry  to  think  that  there  had  not  been 
formed  on  both  sides  some  enduring  friend- 
ships. 


82     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

In  a  little  while  we  had  the  Rescue  in  tow, 
and  were  heading  to  the  east.  She  had  had 
a  fearful  night  of  it  after  leaving  us.  She 
beat  about,  short-handed,  clogged  with  ice, 
and  with  the  thermometer  at  8°.  The  snow 
fell  heavily,  and  the  rigging  was  a  solid,  al- 
most unmanageable  lumj).  Steering,  or 
rather  beating,  she  made,  on  the  evening  of 
the  12th,  the  southern  edge  of  Griffith's 
Island,  and  by  good  luck  and  excellent  man- 
agement succeeded  in  holding  to  the  land 
hummocks.  She  had  split  her  rudder-post 
so  as  to  make  her  unworkable,  and  now  we 
have  her  in  tow.  An  anchor  with  its  fluke 
snapped — her  best  bower ;  and  her  little  boat, 
stove  in  by  the  ice,  was  cut  adrift. 

"We  were  now  homeward  bound,  but  a 
saddened  homeward  bound  for  all  of  us. 
The  vessels  of  our  gallant  brethren  soon  lost 
themselves  in  the  mist,  and  we  steered  our 
course  with  a  fresh  breeze  for  Cape  Hotham. 

"As  we  passed  the  sweep  of  coast  between 
Capes  Martyr  and  Hotham,  and  were  mak- 
ing the  chord  of  the  curve,  our  captain  called 
my  attention  to  a  point  of  the  coast  line 
about  six  miles  off.     On  looking  without  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     83 

glass,  I  distinctly  saw  the  naked  spars  of  a 
couple  of  vessels.  'Brigs!'  said  I.  'Un- 
doubtedly,' said  De  Haven ;  and  then  both  of 
us  simultaneously,  'Penny!'  On  looking 
with  the  glass,  the  masts,  yards,  gaffs,  every 
thing  but  the  bowsprits,  were  made  out  dis- 
tinctly. Lovell  was  called  and  saw  the  same. 
Murdaugh,  who  was  half  undressed,  was 
summoned ;  and  he,  examining  with  the  glass, 
saw  a  third,  which  De  Haven,  after  a  look, 
confirmed  as  a  top-sail  schooner,  the  Felio) 
of  old  Sir  John. 

"We  changed  our  course,  ran  in,  and  de- 
termined to  convince  ourselves  of  their  char- 
acter, and  perhaps  to  speak  them.  The  fog, 
however,  closed  around  them.  Still  we 
stood  on.  Presently,  a  flaw  of  wind  drove 
off  the  vapor;  and  upon  eagerly  gazing  at 
the  spot,  now  less  than  three  miles  off,  no 
vessels  were  to  be  seen. 

"I  can  hardly  comment  upon  this  strange 
circumstance.  It  was  a  complete  puzzle  to 
all  of  us.  Refractive  distortion  plays 
strange  freaks  in  these  Arctic  solitudes;  but 
this  could  hardly  be  one  of  its  illusions. 
Four  persons  saw  the  same  image  with  the 


84    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

naked  eye,  and  the  glass  confirmed  the  de- 
tails. There  was  no  disagreement.  As 
plainly  as  I  see  these  letters  did  I  see  those 
brigs;  and  although  we  supposed  the  Lady 
Franklin  and  Sophia  to  be  ice-caught  at  or 
toward  Cape  Walker,  I  did  not  hesitate  to 
name  them  as  the  vessels  before  us.  Ten 
minutes  of  obscurity,  we  sailing  directly  to- 
ward them,  a  sudden  interval  of  brightness 
— and  they  had  passed  away. 

"Some  large  hummocks  of  grounded  ice 
were  near  them,  and  we  try  to  convince  our- 
selves that  they  may  have  been  closed  in  by 
changes  in  our  relative  positions;  but  this  is 
hard  to  believe,  for  we  should  have  seen  their 
upper  spars  above  the  ice.  I  gazed  long  and 
attentively  with  our  Fraiinhofer  telescope, 
at  three  miles'  distance,  but  saw  absolutely 
no  semblance  of  what  a  few  minutes  before 
was  so  apparent." 

We  were  obliged  several  times  the  next 
day  to  bore  through  the  young  ice;  for  the 
low  temperature  continued,  and  our  wind 
lulled  under  Cape  Hotham.  The  night 
gave  us  now  three  hours  of  complete  dark- 
ness.    It  was  danger  to  run  on,  yet  equally 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     85 

danger  to  pause.  Grim  winter  was  follow- 
ing close  upon  our  heels;  and  even  the  cap- 
tain, sanguine  and  fearless  in  emergency  as 
he  always  proved  himself,  as  he  saw  the 
tenacious  fields  of  sludge  and  pancake  thick- 
ening around  us,  began  to  feel  anxious. 
Mine  was  a  jumble  of  sensations.  I  had 
been  desirous  to  the  last  degree  that  we 
might  remain  on  the  field  of  search,  and 
could  hardly  be  dissatisfied  at  what  prom- 
ised to  realize  my  wish.  Yet  I  had  hoped 
that  our  wintering  would  be  near  our  Eng- 
lish friends,  that  in  case  of  trouble  or  disease 
we  might  mutually  sustain  each  other.  But 
the  interval  of  fifty  miles  between  us,  in 
these  inhospitable  deserts,  was  as  complete 
a  separation  as  an  entire  continent;  and  I 
confess  that  I  looked  at  the  dark  shadows 
closing  around  Barlow's  Inlet,  the  prison 
from  which  we  cut  ourselves  on  the  seventh, 
just  six  days  before,  with  feelings  as  sombre 
as  the  landscape  itself. 

The  sound  of  our  vessel  crunching  her  way 
through  the  new  ice  is  not  easy  to  be  de- 
scribed. It  was  not  like  the  grinding  of  the 
old  formed  ice,  nor  was  it  the  slushy  scraping 


86    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  sludge.  We  may  all  of  us  remember,  in 
the  skating  frolics  of  early  days,  the  peculiar 
reverberating  outcry  of  a  pebble,  as  we 
tossed  it  from  us  along  the  edges  of  an  old 
mill-dam,  and  heard  it  dying  away  in  echoes 
almost  musical.  Imagine  such  a  tone  as 
this,  combined  with  the  whir  of  rapid  motion, 
and  the  rasping  noise  of  close-grained  sugar. 
I  was  hstening  to  the  sound  in  my  little  den, 
after  a  sorrowful  day,  close  upon  zero,  try- 
ing to  warm  up  my  stiffened  limbs.  Pre- 
sently it  grew  less,  then  increased,  then 
stopped,  then  went  on  again,  but  jerking 
and  irregular ;  and  then  it  waned,  and  waned, 
and  waned  away  to  silence. 

Down  came  the  captain:  "Doctor,  the 
ice  has  caught  us:  we  are  frozen  up."  On 
went  my  furs  at  once.  As  I  reached  the 
deck,  the  wind  was  there,  blowing  stiff,  and 
the  sails  were  filled  and  puffing  with  it.  It 
was  not  yet  dark  enough  to  hide  the  smooth 
surface  of  ice  that  filled  up  the  horizon,  hold- 
ing the  American  expedition  in  search  of  Sir 
John  Franklin  imbedded  in  its  centre. 
There  we  were,  literally  frozen  tight  in  the 
mid-channel  of  WelHngton's  Straits. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     87 

"September  15.  The  change  of  tide,  or, 
rather,  those  diurnal  changes  in  the  move- 
ment of  the  ice  which  seem  to  be  indirectly 
connected  with  it,  gave  us  a  little  while  be- 
fore noon  a  partial  opening  in  the  solid  ice 
around  us.  We  made  by  hard  work  about  a 
mile,  and  were  then  more  fast  than  ever. 
The  ice  alongside  will  now  bear  a  man:  the 
wind,  however,  is  hauling  around  to  the  west- 
ward. With  a  strong  northwester,  there 
might  still  be  a  hope  for  us. 

"This  afternoon,  at  6h.  20m.,  a  large 
spheroidal  mass  was  seen  floating  in  the  air 
at  an  unknown  distance  to  the  north.  It  un- 
dulated for  a  while  over  the  ice-lined  horizon 
of  Wellington  Channel;  and  after  a  little 
while,  another,  smaller  than  the  first,  became 
visible  a  short  distance  below  it.  They  re- 
ceded with  the  wind  from  the  southward  and 
eastward,  but  did  not  disappear  for  some 
time.  Captain  De  Haven  at  first  thought 
it  a  kite ;  but,  independently  of  the  difficulty 
of  imagining  a  kite  flying  without  a  master, 
and  where  no  master  could  be,  its  outline  and 
movement  convinced  me  it  was  a  balloon. 
The  Resolute  dispatched  a  courier  balloon 


0 

88     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

on  the  2d ;  but  that  could  never  have  survived 
the  storms  of  the  past  week.  I  therefore 
suppose  it  must  have  been  sent  up  by  some 
Enghsh  vessel  to  the  west  of  us. 

"I  make  a  formal  note  of  this  circum- 
stance, trivial  as  it  may  be;  for  at  first 
Franklin  rose  to  my  mind,  as  possibly  sig- 
nalizing up  Wellington  Channel." 

Cape  Hotham  was  at  this  time  nearly  in 
range,  from  our  position,  with  the  first  head- 
land to  the  west  of  it;  and  our  captain  esti- 
mated that  we  were  about  thirty  miles  from 
the  eastern  side  of  the  strait.  The  balloon 
was  to  leeward,  nearly  due  north  of  us,  more 
so  than  could  be  referred  to  the  course  of 
the  wind  as  we  observed  it,  supposing  it  to 
have  set  out  from  any  vessel  of  whose  place 
we  were  aware.  It  appeared  to  me,  the 
principal  one,  about  two  feet  long  by  eight- 
een inches  broad;  its  appendage  larger  than 
an  ordinary  dinner-plate.  The  incident  in- 
terested us  much  at  the  time,  and  I  have  not 
seen  any  thing  in  the  published  journals  of 
the  English  searchers  that  explains  it. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  region,  which  ten  days  before 
was    teeming    with    animal    life, 
was   now   almost   deserted.     We 
saw  but  one  narwhal  and  a  few 
seal.     The  Ivory  gull  too,  a  solitary  traveler, 
occasionally  flitted  by  us ;  but  the  season  had 
evidently  wrought  its  change. 

Several  flocks  of  the  snow  bunting  had 
passed  over  us  while  we  were  attached  to 
the  main  ice  off  Griffith's  Island,  and  a  single 
raven  was  seen  from  the  Rescue  at  her  hold- 
ing grounds.  The  Brent  geese,  however, 
the  dovekies,  the  divers,  indeed  all  the 
anatidge,  the  white  whales,  the  walrus,  the 
bearded  and  the  hirsute  seal,  the  white  bear, 
whatever  gave  us  life  and  incident,  had  van- 
ished. 

The  following  Sunday,  the  15th,  was  sig- 
nalized by  the  introduction  of  a  bright  new 
"Cornelius"  lard  lamp  into  the  cabin,  a  lux- 


90     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ury  which  I  had  often  urged  before,  but 
which  the  difficulties  of  opening  the  hold  had 
compelled  the  captain  to  deny  us.  The  con- 
densation of  moisture  had  been  excessive; 
the  beams  had  been  sweating  great  drops, 
and  my  bedding  and  bunk-boards  bore  the 
look  of  having  been  exposed  to  a  drizzhng 
mist.  The  temperature  had  been  below  the 
freezing  point  for  a  week  before.  The 
lamp  gave  us  the  very  comfortable  warmth 
of  44°,  twelve  degrees  above  congelation. 
It  was  a  luxury  such  as  few  but  Ai'ctic 
travelers  can  apprehend. 

For  some  days  after  this,  an  obscurity  of 
fog  and  snow  made  it  impossible  to  see  more 
than  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  ship. 
This  little  area  remained  fast  bound,  the  ice 
bearing  us  readily,  though  a  very  slight  mo- 
tion against  the  sides  of  the  vessel  seemed  to 
show  that  it  was  not  perfectly  attached  to 
the  shores.  But  as  I  stood  on  deck  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  16th,  watching  the  coast  to 
the  east  of  us,  as  the  clouds  cleared  away 
for  the  first  time,  it  struck  me  that  its  con- 
figuration was  unkno^vn  to  me.  By-and- 
by.  Cape  Beechy,  the  isthmus  of  the  Graves, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     91 

loomed  up ;  and  we  then  found  that  we  were 
a  little  to  the  north  of  Cape  Bowden. 

The  next  two  (days  this  northward  drift 
continued  without  remission.  The  wind 
blew  strong  from  the  southward  and  east- 
ward, sometimes  approaching  to  a  gale ;  but 
the  ice-pack  around  us  retained  its  tenacity, 
and  increased  rapidly  in  thickness. 

Yet  every  now  and  then  we  could  see  that 
at  some  short  distance  it  was  broken  by  small 
pools  of  water,  which  would  be  effaced  again, 
soon  after  they  were  formed,  by  an  external 
pressure.  At  these  times  our  vessels  un- 
derwent a  nipping  on  a  small  scale.  The 
smoother  ice-field  that  held  us  would  be 
driven  in,  pihng  itself  in  miniature  hum- 
mocks about  us,  sometimes  higher  than  our 
decks,  and  much  too  near  them  to  leave  us  a 
sense  of  security  against  their  further  ad- 
vance. The  noises,  too,  of  whining  puppies 
and  swarming  bees  made  part  of  these 
demonstrations,  much  as  when  the  heavier 
masses  were  at  work,  but  shriller  perhaps, 
and  more  clamorous. 

I  was  aroused  at  midnight  of  the  16th  by 
one  of  these  onsets  of  the  enemy,  crunching 


92     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

and  creaking  against  the  ship's  sides  till  the 
masses  ground  themselves  to  powder.  Our 
vessel  was  trembling  like  an  ague-fit  under 
the  pressure;  and  when  so  pinched  that  she 
could  not  vibrate  any  longer  between  the 
driving  and  the  stationary  fields,  making  a 
quick,  liberating  jump  above  them  that 
rattled  the  movables  fore  and  aft.  As  it 
wore  on  toward  morning,  the  ice,  now  ten 
inches  thick,  kept  crowding  upon  us  with 
increased  energy;  and  the  whole  of  the  17th 
was  passed  in  a  succession  of  conflicts  with 
it. 

The  18th  began  with  a  nipping  that  prom- 
ised more  of  danger.  The  banks  of  ice  rose 
one  above  another  till  they  reached  the  line 
of  our  bulwarks.  This,  too,  continued 
through  the  day,  sometimes  lulling  for  a 
while  into  comparative  repose,  but  recurring 
after  a  few  minutes  of  partial  intermission. 
While  I  was  watching  this  angry  contest  of 
the  ice-tables,  as  they  clashed  together  in 
the  darkness  of  early  dawn,  I  saw  for  the 
first  time  the  luminous  appearance,  which 
has  been  described  by  voyagers  as  attending 
the  collision  of  bergs.     It  was  very  marked ; 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     93 

as  decided  a  phosphorescence  as  that  of  the 
fire-fly,  or  the  fox-fire  of  the  Virginia  mea- 
dows. 

Still,  amid  all  the  tumult,  our  drift  was 
toward  the  north.  From  the  bearings  of  the 
coast,  badly  obtained  through  the  fogs,  it 
was  quite  evident  that  we  had  passed  be- 
yond any  thing  recorded  on  the  charts. 
Cape  Bowden,  Parry's  furthest  headland, 
was  at  least  twenty-five  miles  south  of  us; 
and  our  old  landmarks.  Cape  Hotham  and 
Beechy,  had  entirely  disappeared.  Even 
the  high  bluffs  of  Barlow's  Inlet  had  gone. 
I  hardly  know  why  it  was  so,  but  this  inlet 
had  somehow  or  other  been  for  me  an  object 
of  special  aversion:  the  naked  desolation  of 
its  frost-bitten  limestone,  the  cavernous  re- 
cess of  its  cliffs,  the  cheerlessness  of  its  dark 
shadows,  had  connected  it,  from  the  first  day 
I  saw  it,  with  some  dimly-remembered  feel- 
ing of  pain.  But  how  glad  we  should  all  of 
us  have  been,  as  we  floated  along  in  hopeless 
isolation,  to  find  a  way  open  to  its  grim  but 
protecting  barriers. 

I  return  to  my  journal. 

''September  19,   Thursday.     About  five 


94<     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

o'clock  this  morning  the  wind  set  in  from 
the  northward  and  eastward ;  but  the  ice  was 
tightly  compacted,  and  for  a  while  did  not 
budge.  Presently,  however,  we  could  see 
the  water-pools  extending  their  irregular 
margins.  Ahead  of  us,  that  is,  still  further 
to  the  north,  was  ice  apparently  more  solid 
than  the  ten-inch  field  around  us.  It  shot 
up  into  larger  hummocks  and  heavier 
masses,  and  was  evidently  thicker  and  more 
permanent.  It  had  been  for  the  past  two 
days  not  more  than  fifty  yards  ahead,  and 
we  called  it  in  the  log  the  'fixed  ice.'  By 
breakfast-time  this  opened  into  two  long 
pools  on  our  right,  and  one  on  the  left,  which 
seemed  to  extend  pretty  well  toward  the 
western  shore.  It  was  evident  that  we  were 
now  drifting  to  the  southward  again. 

"The  sun,  so  long  obscured,  gave  us  to-day 
a  rough  meridian  altitude.  Murdaugh,  al- 
ways active  and  efficient,  had  his  artificial 
horizon  ready  upon  the  ice,  and  gave  us  an 
apjoroximate  latitude.  We  were  in  75°  20' 
11''  north.  A  large  cape  and  several  smaller 
headlands  were  seen,  together  with  appar- 
ently an  inlet  or  harbor,  all  on  the  western 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     95 

side.  They  remain  unchristened.  From 
our  mast-head,  no  imsitive  land  was  visible 
to  the  north.  Tides  we  have  not  had  the 
means  of  observing.  Our  soundings  on  the 
17th  gave  us  bottom  at  110  fathoms,  nearly 
in  mid-channel. 

''September  19, 11 :20  p.m.  The  wind  con- 
tinued all  day  from  the  northward  and  west- 
ward, freshening  gradually  to  a  gale.  The 
barometer  fell  from  29.73  to  32,  and  our 
maximum  temperature  was  26°.  A  heavy 
fall  of  snow  covered  the  deck. 

''September  20.  I  have  been  keeping  the 
jSrst  watch  and  anxiously  observing  the  ice; 
for  I  am  no  sailor,  and  in  emergency  can 
only  wake  my  comrades.  The  darkness  is 
now  complete.  The  wind  has  changed 
again.  At  three  a.m.  it  set  in  from  the 
southward  and  eastward,  increasing  grad- 
ually to  a  fresh  gale.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
the  breaking  up  of  the  season,  or  some  un- 
usual premonition  of  stern  winter;  but  cer- 
tain it  is  that  our  experience  of  Lancaster 
Sound  has  given  us  anything  but  tranquil- 
lity of  winds.  We  entered  on  the  wings  of 
a  storm;  and  ever  since,  with  the  exception 


96     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  about  three  days  off  Cape  Riley,  we  have 
had  nothing  but  gales,  rising  arid  falHng  in 
alternating  series  from  the  north  to  north- 
ward and  westward,  and  from  the  south  to 
southward  and  eastward.  The  day  was  as 
usual  ushered  in  with  snow,  and  the  ther- 
mometer rose  to  the  height  of  29°;  yet  to 
sensation  it  was  cold.  There  is  something 
very  queer  about  this  discrepancy  between 
the  thermometrical  register  and  the  effects 
of  heat.  It  thawed  i^alpably  to-day  at  28° ; 
and  yet  all  complain  of  cold,  even  without 
the  influence  of  the  wind. 

"We  are  now,  poor  devils !  drifting  north- 
ward again.  Creatures  of  habit,  those  who 
were  anxious  have  forgotten  anxiety;  glued 
fast  here  in  a  moving  mass,  we  eat,  and 
drink,  and  sleep,  unmindful  of  the  morrow. 
It  is  ahnost  beyond  a  doubt  that,  if  we  find 
our  way  through  the  contingencies  of  this 
Arctic  autumn,  we  must  spend  our  winter 
in  open  sea.  Many  miles  to  the  south. 
Captain  Back  j)assed  a  memorable  term  of 
vigil  and  exposure.  Here,  however,  I  do 
not  anticijDate  such  encounters  with  drifting 
floes  as  are  spoken  of  in  Hudson's  Bay. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     97 

The  centre  of  greatest  cold  is  too  near  us, 
and  the  communication  with  open  sea  too 
distant. 

"I  was  in  the  act  of  writing  the  above, 
when  a  starthng  sensation,  resembhng  the 
spring  of  a  well-drawn  bow,  announced  a 
fresh  movement.  Running  on  deck,  I  found 
it  blowing  a  furious  gale,  and  the  ice  again 
in  motion.  I  use  the  word  motion  inac- 
curately. The  field,  of  which  we  are  a  part, 
is  always  in  motion;  that  is,  drifting  with 
wind  or  current.  It  is  only  when  other  ice 
bears  down  upon  our  own,  or  our  own  ice 
is  borne  in  against  other  floes,  that  pressure 
and  resistance  make  us  conscious  of  motion. 

"The  ice  was  again  in  motion.  The  great 
expanse  of  recently-formed  soHdity,  already 
bristling  with  hummocks,  had  up  to  this 
moment  resisted  the  enormous  incidence  of 
a  heavy  gale.  Suddenly,  however,  the  pres- 
sure increasing  beyond  its  strength,  it 
yielded.  The  twang  of  a  bow-string  is  the 
only  thing  I  can  compare  it  to.  In  a  single 
instant  the  broad  field  was  rent  asunder, 
cracked  in  every  conceivable  direction,  tables 
ground  against  tables,  and  masses  piled  over 


98     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

masses.     The  sea  seemed  to  be  churning  ice. 

"By  the  time  I  had  yoked  my  neck  in 
its  serape,  and  got  up  upon  deck,  the  ice  had 
piled  up  a  couple  of  feet  above  our  bul- 
warks. In  less  than  another  minute  it  had 
toppled  over  again,  and  we  were  floating 
helplessly  in  a  confused  mass  of  broken  frag- 
ments. Fortunately  the  Rescue  remained 
fixed ;  our  hawser  was  fast  to  her  stern,  and 
by  it  we  were  brought  side  by  side  again. 
Night  passed  anxiously;  i.  e.,  slept  in  my 
clothes,  and  dreamed  of  being  presented  to 
Queen  Victoria. 

"September  21,  Saturday.  We  have 
drifted  still  more  to  the  northward  and  east- 
ward. An  observation  gave  us  latitude  75° 
20'  38''  N.  We  are  apparently  not  more 
than  seven  miles  from  the  shore.  It  is  still 
of  the  characteristic  transition  limestone, 
very  uninviting,  snow-covered,  and  destitute ; 
but  we  look  at  it  longingly.  It  would  be  so 
comforting  to  have  landed  a  small  depot  of 
provisions,  in  case  of  accident  or  impaction 
further  north. 

"No  snow  until  afternoon.  Thermome- 
ter, maximum  22°,  minimum  19°,  mean  20° 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    99 

35^  Wind  gentle,  and  now  nearly  calm, 
from  southward  and  eastward  to  southward. 

"About  tea-tune  (21st),  the  sun  suf- 
ficiently low  to  give  the  effects  of  sunset,  we 
saw  distinctly  to  the  north  by  west  a  series  of 
hill-tops,  apparently  of  the  same  configura- 
tion with  those  around  us.  The  trend  of 
the  western  coast  extending  northward 
from  the  point  opposite  our  vessel  receded 
westward,  and  a  vacant  space,  either  of  un- 
seen very  low  land  or  of  water,  separated  it 
from  the  Terra  Nova,  which  we  see  north  of 
us.  Whether  this  Grinnell  Land,  as  our 
captain  has  named  it,  be  a  continuation  of 
Cornwallis  Island  or  a  cape  from  a  new 
northernland,  or  a  new  direction  of  the  east- 
ern coast  of  North  Devon,  or  a  new  island,  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say.  We  shall  probably 
know  more  of  each  other  before  long. 

"Septemhei^  22,  Sunday.  A  cloudless 
morning:  no  snow  till  afternoon.  Our  drift 
during  the  night  has  been  to  the  northward ; 
and,  except  an  occasional  crack  or  pool,  our 
horizon  was  one  mass  of  snow-covered  ice. 

"The  beautifully  clear  sky  with  which  the 
day  opened  gave  us  another  opportunity  of 


100     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

seeing  the  unvisited  shores  of  Upper  Well- 
ington Sound.  Our  latitude  by  artificial 
horizon  was  75°  24'  21''  N.,  about  sixty  miles 
from  Cape  Hotham.  Cape  Bowden,  on  the 
eastern  side,  has  disappeared;  and  on  the 
west,  Advance  Bluff,  a  dark,  projecting 
cape,  from  which  we  took  sextant  angles, 
was  seen  bearing  to  the  west  of  south.  To 
the  northward  and  westward  low  land  was 
seen,  having  the  appearance  of  an  island,* 
and  mountain  tops  terminating  the  low  strip 
ahead.  The  trend  of  the  shore  on  our  left, 
the  western,  is  clearly  to  the  westward  since 
leaving  Advance  Bluff.  It  is  rolling,  with 
terraced  shingle  beach,  and  without  bluffs. 
It  terminates,  or  apparently  terminates,  ab- 
ruptly, thus: 


after  which  comes  a  strip  without  visible 
land,  and  then  the  mountain  tops  mentioned 

*I  have  followed  my  journal  literally.  I  find,  however, 
in  my  copy  of  the  log-l)ook,  below  the  entry  of  the  watch- 
officer  which  mentions  this  island,  a  note  made  by  me  at  the 
time:  "I  can  see  no  island,  but  simply  this  prolongation 
or  tongue." 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     101 

above.  Beyond  this  western  shore,  distant 
only  seven  miles,  we  see  mountain  tops,  dis- 
tant and  very  high,  rising  above  the  clouds. 

"September  25,  Wednesday.  The  wind 
has  changed,  so  that  our  helpless  drift  is  now 
again  to  the  north.  The  day  was  compara- 
tively free  from  snow;  but  not  clear  enough 
to  give  us  an  observation,  or  to  exhibit  the 
more  distant  coast-lines.  We  can  see  the 
western  shore  very  plainly  covered  with 
snow,  and  stretching  in  rolling  hills  to  the 
north  and  west.  A  little  indentation, 
nearly  opposite  the  day  before  yesterday,  is 
now  in  nearly  the  same  phase — if  any  thing, 
a  little  to  the  southward.  We  have  there- 
fore changed  our  position  by  drift  not  so 
much  as  on  the  preceding  days.  The  winds, 
however,  have  been  very  light.  Advance 
Bluff  is  now  shut  in  by  'Cape  Rescue,'  the 
westernmost  point  yet  discovered  of  Corn- 
wallis  Island.  This  shows  that  we  are  near- 
ing  the  shore. 

"Toward  the  north  and  a  little  to  the  west 
is  a  permanent  dark  cloud,  a  line  of  stratus 
with  a  cumulated  thickening  at  the  western 
end.     This  is  the  same  during  sunshine  and 


102     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

snow-storm,  night  and  day.  It  is  thought 
by  Captain  De  Haven  to  be  indicative  of 
open  water.  It  may  be  that  Cornwalhs 
Island  ends  there,  and  that  this  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  present  channel  trending  to 
the  westward.  Or  this  dark  apj)earance 
may  be  merely  the  highland  clouds  over  the 
mountains  seen  on  Sunday;  but  De  Haven 
suggests  that  it  is  rather  a  vacant  space,  or 
water  free  from  ice ;  the  exemption  being  due 
to  the  island  and  adjacent  western  shore  (not 
more  than  seven  miles  from  it),  acting  as  a 
barrier  to  the  northern  drift  of  the  present 
channel." 


CHAPTER  VI 

I  AM  reluctant  to  burden  my  pages  with 
the  wild,  but  scarcely  varied  incidents 
of  our  continued  drift  through  Well- 
ington Channel.  We  were  yet  to  be 
familiarized  with  the  strife  of  the  ice-tables, 
now  broken  up  into  tumbhng  masses,  and 
piling  themselves  in  angry  confusion  against 
our  sides — now  fixed  in  chaotic  disarray  by 
the  fields  of  new  ice  that  imbedded  them  in  a 
single  night — again,  perhaps,  opening  in 
treacherous  pools,  only  to  close  round  us 
with  a  force  that  threatened  to  grind  our 
brigs  to  powder.  I  shall  have  occasion 
enough  to  speak  of  these  things  hereafter. 
I  give  now  a  few  extracts  from  my  journal; 
some  of  which  may  perhaps  have  interest  of 
a  different  character,  though  they  can  not 
escape  the  saddening  monotony  of  the  scenes 
that  were  about  us. 

I  begin  with  a  partial  break-up  that  oc- 
curred on  the  23d. 

103 


104     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"September  23.  How  shall  I  describe  to 
you  this  pressure,  its  fearfulness  and  sub- 
limity! Nothing  that  I  have  seen  or  read 
of  approaches  it.  The  voices  of  the  ice  and 
the  heavy  swash  of  the  overturned  hummock- 
tables  are  at  this  moment  dinning  in  my 
ears.  'All  hands'  are  on  deck  fighting  our 
grim  enemy. 

"Fourteen  inches  of  solid  ice  thickness, 
with  some  half  dozen  of  snow,  are,  with  the 
slow  uniform  advance  of  a  mighty  propelling 
power,  driving  in  upon  our  vessel.  As  they 
strike  her,  the  semi-plastic  mass  is  impressed 
with  a  mould  of  her  side,  and  then,  urged  on 
by  the  force  behind,  slides  upward,  and  rises 
in  great  vertical  tables.  When  these  attain 
their  utmost  height,  still  pressed  on  by 
others,  they  topple  over,  and  form  a  great 
embankment  of  fallen  tables.  At  the  same 
time,  others  take  a  downward  direction,  and 
when  pushed  on,  as  in  the  other  case,  form  a 
similar  pile  underneath.  The  side  on  which 
one  or  the  other  of  these  actions  takes  place 
for  the  time,  varies  with  the  direction  of  the 
force,  the  strength  of  the  opposite  or  resist- 
ing side,  the  inchnation  of  the  vessel,  and  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     105 

weight  of  the  superincumbent  mounds;  and 
as  these  conditions  follow  each  other  in  vary- 
ing succession,  the  vessel  becomes  perfectly 
imbedded  after  a  little  while  in  crumbling 
and  fractured  ice. 

"Perhaps  no  vessel  has  ever  been  in  this 
position  but  our  own.  With  matured  ice, 
nothing  of  iron  or  wood  could  resist  such 
pressure.  As  for  the  British  vessels,  their 
size  would  make  it  next  to  impossible  for 
them  to  stand.  Back's  'Winter'  is  the  only 
thing  I  have  read  of  that  reminds  me  of  our 
present  j)redicament.  No  vessel  has  ever 
been  caught  by  winter  in  these  waters. 

"We  are  lifted  bodily  eighteen  inches  out 
of  water.  The  hummocks  are  reared  up 
around  the  ship,  so  as  to  rise  in  some  cases  a 
couple  of  feet  above  our  bulwarks — five  feet 
above  our  deck.  They  are  very  often  ten 
and  twelve  feet  high.  All  hands  are  out, 
laboring  with  picks  and  crowbars  to  overturn 
the  fragments  that  threaten  to  overwhelm 
us.  Add  to  this  darkness,  snow,  cold,  and 
the  absolute  destitution  of  surrounding 
shores. 

"This  uprearing  of  the  ice  is  not  a  slow 


106     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

work:  it  is  jorogressive,  but  not  slow.  It 
was  only  at  4  p.  m.  that  nips  began, 
and  now  the  entire  plain  is  triangulated  with 
ice-barricades.  Under  the  double  influence 
of  sails  and  warping-hawsers,  we  have  not 
been  able  to  budge  a  hair's-breadth.  Yet, 
imj)elled  by  this  irresistible,  bearing-down 
floe-monster,  we  crush,  grind,  eat  our  way, 
surrounded  by  the  ruins  of  our  progress.  In 
fourteen  minutes  we  changed  our  position 
80  feet,  or  5.71  per  minute. 

"Sometimes  the  ice  cracks  with  violence, 
almost  explosive,  throughout  the  entire 
length  of  the  floe.  Very  grand  this !  Some- 
times the  hummock  masses,  piled  up  like 
crushed  sugar  around  the  ship,  suddenly  sink 
into  the  sea,  and  then  fresh  mounds  take 
their  place. 

"Our  little  neighbor,  the  Rescue,  is  all  this 
time  within  twent}^  j^ards  of  us,  resting  upon 
wedges  of  ice,  and  not  subjected  to  move- 
ment or  pressure — a  fact  of  interest,  as  it 
shows  how  very  small  a  difference  of  posi- 
tion may  determine  the  differing  fate  of  two 
vessels. 

''September  24f.     The  ice  is  kinder;  no 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     107 

fresh  movements;  a  little  whining  in  the 
morning,  but  since  then  undisturbed.  The 
ice,  however,  is  influenced  by  the  wind;  for 
open  water-pools  have  formed — three 
around  the  ship  within  eye  distance.  In  one 
of  these,  the  seals  made  their  appearance 
toward  noon ;  no  less  than  five  disporting  to- 
gether among  the  sludge  of  the  open  water. 
I  started  off  on  a  perilous  walk  over  the 
ruined  barricades  of  last  night's  commotion ; 
and,  after  cooling  myself  for  forty  minutes 
in  an  atmosphere  ten  degrees  above  zero, 
came  back  without  a  shot.  The  condensed 
moisture  had  so  affected  my  powder  that  I 
could  not  get  my  gun  off. 

"This  condensation  is  now  very  trouble- 
some, dripping  down  from  our  carlines,  and 
sweating  over  the  roof  and  berth-boards. 
When  we  open  the  hatchway,  the  steam  rises 
in  clouds  from  the  little  cabin  below. 

"We  have  as  yet  no  fires ;  worse !  the  state 
of  uncertainty  in  which  we  are  placed  makes 
it  impossible  to  resort  to  any  winter  arrange- 
ments. Yet  these  lard  lamps  give  us  a  tem- 
perature of  46°,  which  to  men  hke  ourselves, 
used  to  constant  out-door  exercise,  exposure. 


108     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

and  absence  of  artificial  heat,  is  quite  genial. 
But  for  the  moisture — that  wretched,  com- 
fortless, rheumatic  drawback — we  would  be 
quite  snug. 

"Our  captain  is  the  best  of  sailors;  but,  in- 
tent always  on  the  primary  objects  and 
duties  of  his  cruise,  he  is  apt  to  forget  or 
postpone  a  provident  regard  for  those  crea- 
ture-comforts which  have  interest  for  others. 
To-day,  with  the  thermometer  at  10°,  we 
for  the  first  time  commenced  the  manufac- 
ture of  stove-pipes.  I  need  not  say  that  the 
cold  metal  played  hob  with  the  tinkers.  If 
they  go  on  at  the  present  rate,  the  pipes  will 
be  nearly  ready  by  next  summer. 

"September  26.  The  hummocks  around 
us  still  remain  without  apparent  motion, 
heaped  up  like  snow-covered  barriers  of 
street  rioters.  We  are  wedged  in  a  huge 
mass  of  tables,  completely  out  of  water,  cra- 
dled by  ice.  I  wish  it  would  give  us  an  even 
keel.  We  are  eighteen  inches  higher  on  one 
quarter  than  the  other. 

"The  two  large  pools  we  observed  yester- 
day, one  on  each  side  of  us,  are  now  coated 
by  a  thick  film  of  ice.     In  this  the  poor  seals 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     109 

sometimes  show  themselves  in  groups  of 
half  a  dozen.  They  no  longer  sport  about  as 
they  did  three  weeks  ago,  but  rise  up  to  their 
breasts  through  young  ice,  and  gaze  around 
with  curiosity-smitten  countenances. 

"The  shyness  of  the  seal  is  proverbial. 
The  Esquimaux,  trained  from  earliest  youth 
to  the  pursuit  of  them,  regard  a  successful 
hunter  as  the  great  man  of  the  settlement. 
If  not  killed  instantaneously,  the  seal  sinks 
and  is  lost.  The  day  before  yesterday,  I 
adopted  the  native  plan  of  silent  watching 
beside  a  pool.  Thus  for  a  long  time  I  was 
exposed  to  a  temperature  of  +8°;  but  no 
shots  within  head-range  offered ;  and  I  knew 
that,  unless  the  spinal  column  or  base  of  the 
brain  was  entered  by  the  ball,  it  would  be 
useless  to  waste  our  ah'eady  scanty  ammuni- 
tion. 

"To-day,  however,  I  was  more  fortunate. 
A  fine  young  seal  rose  about  forty  yards 
off,  and  I  put  the  ball  between  the  ear  and 
eye.  A  boat  was  run  over  the  ice,  and  the 
carcass  secured.  This  is  the  second  I  have 
killed  with  this  villainous  carbine:  it  will  be 
a  valuable  help  to  our  sick.     We  are  now 


110     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

very  fond  of  seal-meat.  It  is  far  better  than 
bear;  and  the  fishiness,  which  at  first  dis- 
turbed us,  is  no  longer  disagreeable.  I  sim- 
ply skin  them,  retaining  the  blubber  with  the 
pelt.  The  cold  soon  renders  them  solid. 
My  bear,  although  in  a  barrel,  is  as  stiff  and 
hard  as  horn. 

"Took  a  skate  this  morning  over  some 
lakelets  recently  frozen  over.  The  ice  was 
tenacious,  but  not  strong  enough  for  safety. 
As  I  was  moving  along  over  the  tickly-hend- 
ers,  my  ice-pole  drove  a  hole,  and  came  very 
near  dropping  through  into  the  water. 

"September  27.  This  evening  the  ther- 
mometer gave  3°  above  zero.  A  bit  of  ice, 
which  I  took  into  my  mouth  to  suck,  fast- 
ened on  to  my  tongue  and  carried  away  the 
skin.  When  we  open  the  cabin  hatch  now, 
a  cloud  of  steam,  visible  only  as  the  two  cur- 
rents meet,  gives  evidence  of  the  Arctic  con- 
densation. 

"Afar  off,  skipping  from  hummock  to 
hummock,  I  saw  a  black  fox.  Poor  deso- 
late devil!  what  did  he,  so  far  from  his 
recorded  home,  seven  miles  from  even  the 
naked  snow-hills  of  this  dreary  wilderness? 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     111 

In  the  night-time  I  heard  him  bark.  They 
set  a  trap  for  him;  but  I  secretly  placed  a 
bigger  bait  outside,  without  a  snare-loop  or 
trigger.  In  the  morning  it  was  gone,  and 
the  dead-fall  had  fallen  upon  no  fox.  How 
the  poor,  hungry  thing  must  have  enjoj^ed 
his  supper !  half  the  guts,  the  spleen,  and  the 
pluck  of  my  seal. 

"Lovell  raised  a  swing;  cold  work,  but 
good  exercise.  He  rigged  it  from  the  main 
studding-sail  boom.  INIurdaugh  and  Carter 
are  building  a  snow-house.  The  doctor  is 
hard  at  work  patching  up  materials  for  an 
overland  communication  with  the  English 
squadron — an  enterprise  fast  becoming  des- 
perate. Yet,  drifting  as  we  are  to  unknown 
regions  north,  it  is  of  vast  importance  that 
others  should  know  of  our  position  and  pros- 
pects." 

Our  position,  however,  at  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, thanks  to  the  rapidly-increasing 
cold,  gave  promise  of  a  certain  degree  of 
security  and  rest.  The  Advance  had  been 
driven,  by  the  superior  momentum  of  the 
floes  that  pressed  us  on  one  side,  some  two 
hundred  and  fiftj^  feet  into  the  mass  of  less 


112     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

resisting  floes  on  the  other ;  the  Rescue  mean- 
while remaining  stationary;  and  the  two 
vessels  were  fixed  for  a  time  on  two  adjacent 
sides  of  a  rectangle,  and  close  to  each  other. 
The  unseen  and  varying  energies  of  the  ice 
movements  had  occasionally  modified  the 
position  of  each;  but  their  relation  to  each 
other  continued  almost  unchanged. 

We  felt  that  we  were  fixed  for  the  winter. 
We  arranged  our  rude  embankments  of  ice 
and  snow  around  us,  began  to  deposit  our 
stores  within  them,  and  got  out  our  felt  cov- 
ering that  was  to  serve  as  our  winter  roof. 
The  temperature  was  severe,  ranging  from 
1°.5,  and  4°  to  +10°;  but  the  men  worked 
with  the  energy,  and  hope  too,  of  pioneer 
settlers,  when  building  up  their  first  home  in 
our  Western  forests. 

The  closing  day  of  the  month  was  sig- 
nalized by  a  brilhant  meteor,  a  modification 
of  the  parhelion,  the  more  interesting  to  us 
because  the  first  we  had  seen. 

''October  1,  Tuesday.  To-day  the  work 
of  breaking  hold  commenced.  The  coal  im- 
mediately under  the  main  hatch  was  passed 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     113 

up  in  buckets,  and  some  five  tons  piled  upon 
the  ice.  The  quarter-boats  were  hauled 
about  twenty  paces  from  our  port-bow,  and 
the  sails  covered  and  stacked;  in  short,  all 
hands  were  at  work  preparing  for  the  win- 
ter. Little  had  we  calculated  the  caprices 
of  Arctic  ice. 

"About  ten  o'clock  a.m.  a  large  crack 
opened  nearly  east  and  west,  running  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  see,  sometimes  crossing  the 
ice-pools,  and  sometimes  breaking  along  the 
hummock  ridges.  The  sun  and  moon  will 
be  in  conjunction  on  the  3d;  we  had  notice, 
therefore,  that  the  spring  tides  are  in  ac- 
tion. 

"Captain  Griffin  had  been  dispatched  with 
Mr.  Lovell  before  this,  to  establish  on  the 
shore  the  site  for  a  depot  of  provisions:  at 
one  o'clock  a  signal  was  made  to  recall  them. 
At  two  P.M.,  seeing  a  seal,  I  ran  out  upon  the 
ice ;  but  losing  him,  was  tempted  to  continue 
on  about  a  mile  to  the  eastward.  The  wind, 
which  had  been  from  the  westward  all  the 
morning,  now  shifted  to  the  southward,  and 
the  ice-tables  began  to  be  again  in  motion. 


114     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

The  humming  of  bees  and  upheaving  hum- 
mocks, together  with  exploding  cracks, 
warned  me  back  to  the  vessel. 

"At  3:20,  while  we  were  at  dinner,  com- 
menting with  some  anxiety  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  things  without,  that  unmistakable 
monitor,  the  'young  puppies f  began.  Run- 
ning on  deck,  we  found  a  large  fissure,  nearly 
due  north  and  south,  in  line  with  the  Ad- 
vance. A  few  minutes  after,  the  entire  floe 
on  our  starboard  side  was  moving,  and  the 
ice  breaking  up  in  every  direction. 

"The  emergency  was  startling  enough. 
All  hands  turned  to,  officers  included.  The 
poor  land  party,  returning  at  this  moment, 
tired  and  dinnerless,  went  to  work  with  the 
rest.  Vreeland  and  myself  worked  like 
horses.  Before  dark,  every  thing  was  on 
board  except  the  coal ;  and  of  this,  such  were 
the  unwearied  efforts  of  our  crew,  that  we 
lost  but  a  ton  or  two. 

"This  ice-opening  was  instructive  prac- 
tically, because  it  taught  those  of  us  who  did 
not  understand  it  before  how  capriciously 
insecure    was    our    position.     It    revealed 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     115 

much,  too,  in  relation  to  the  action  of  the 
ice. 

"1.  The  first  crack  was  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  the  axis  of  the  channel;  the  subse- 
quent ones  crossed  the  first;  the  wind  being 
in  the  one  case  from  the  westward,  and  after- 
ward changing  to  the  southward. 

"2.  The  next  subject  of  note  was  the  dis- 
integration of  the  old  floes.  It  took  place 
almost  invariably  at  their  original  lines  of 
junction,  well  marked  by  the  hummocky 
ridges.  This  shows  that  the  cementation 
was  imperfect  after  seventeen  days  of  very 
low  temperature;  a  circumstance  attributa- 
ble, perhaps,  to  the  massive  character  of  the 
up-piled  tables,  which  protected  the  inner 
portion  of  them  from  the  air,  and  to  the  con- 
stant infiltration  (endosmose)  of  salt-water 
at  the  abraded  margins. 

"3.  The  extent  to  which  the  work  of  super 
and  infra  position  had  been  carried  during 
the  actions  may  be  realized,  when  I  say  that 
the  floe-piece  which  separated  from  us  to 
starboard  retained  the  exact  impression  of 
the  ship's  side.     There  it  was,  with  the  gang- 


116    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

way  stairs  of  ice-block  masonry,  looking 
down  upon  the  dark  water,  and  the  useless 
embankment  embracing  a  sludgy  ice-pool. 

"We  could  see  table  after  table,  more 
properly  laj^er  after  layer,  each  not  more 
than  seven  inches  thick,  extending  down  for 
more  than  twenty  feet.  Thus,  it  is  highly 
probable,  may  be  formed  many  of  those 
enormous  ice-tables,  attributed  by  authors 
to  direct  and  uninterrupted  congelation. 

"The  quantity  of  ice  adhering  to  our  port- 
side  must  be  enormous;  for  although  the 
starboard  floe,  in  leaving  us,  parted  a  six- 
inch  hawser,  it  failed  to  budge  us  one  inch 
from  the  icy  cradle  in  which  we  are  set." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THREE  days  after  this  entry  the 
thermometer  had  fallen  to  11°  be- 
low zero.  Our  housings  were  not 
yet  fixed,  and  we  had  no  fires  be- 
low; indeed,  our  position  was  so  liable  to 
momentary  and  violent  change  that  it  would 
have  been  impracticable  to  put  up  stoves. 
Still,  our  lard-lamp  in  the  cabin  gave  us  a 
temperature  of  +44°;  and  so  completely 
were  our  systems  accommodated  to  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  we  were,  that  we  should 
have  been  quite  satisfied  but  for  the  con- 
densed moisture  that  dripped  from  every 
thing  about  us.  Our  commander  had  al- 
lowed me  to  place  canvas  gutters  around  the 
hatchways,  and  from  these  we  emptied  every 
day  several  tin  cans  full  of  water,  that  would 
otherwise  have  been  added  to  the  slop  on  our 
cabin  floor.  But  the  state  of  things  was,  on 
the  whole,  exceedingly  comfortless,  and,  to 
those  whom  the  scurvy  had  attacked,  full  of 
in 


118     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

peril.  I  remember  once,  when  the  lard- 
lamp  died  out  in  the  course  of  the  night,  the 
mercury  sunk  in  the  cabin  to  16°.  It  was 
not  till  the  19th  that  we  got  up  our  stoves. 

The  adaptation  of  the  human  system  to 
varying  temperatures  struck  me  at  this  time 
with  great  force.  I  had  passed  the  three 
winters  before  within  the  tropics — the  last 
on  the  plains  of  Mexico — yet  I  could  now 
watch  patiently  for  hours  together  to  get  a 
shot  at  seals,  with  the  thermometer  at  +10°. 
I  wrote  my  journal  in  imaginary  comfort 
with  a  temperature  of  40°,  and  was  positively 
distressed  with  heat  when  exercising  on  the 
ice  with  the  mercury  at  -|-19°. 

I  return  to  my  diary. 

''October  3.  I  write  at  midnight.  Leav- 
ing the  deck,  where  I  have  been  tramping 
the  cold  out  of  my  joints,  I  come  below  to 
our  little  cabin.  As  I  open  the  hatch,  every 
thing  seems  bathed  in  dirty  milk.  A  cloud 
of  vapor  gushes  out  at  every  chink,  and,  as 
the  cold  air  travels  down,  it  is  seen  condens- 
ing deeper  and  deeper.  The  thermometer 
above  is  at  7°  below  zero. 

"The  brig  and  the  ice  around  her  are  cov- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     119 

ered  by  a  strange  black  obscurity — not  a 
mist,  nor  a  haze,  but  a  peculiar,  waving,  pal- 
pable, unnatural  darkness:  it  is  the  frost- 
smoke  of  Arctic  winters.  Its  range  is  very 
low.  Climbing  to  the  yard-arm,  some  thirty 
feet  above  the  deck,  I  looked  over  a  great 
horizon  of  black  smoke,  and  above  me  saw 
the  heaven  without  a  blemish. 

''October  4.  The  open  pools  can  no 
longer  be  called  pools ;  they  are  great  rivers, 
whose  hummock-lined  shores  look  dimly 
through  the  haze.  Contrasted  with  the  pure 
white  snow,  their  waters  are  black  even  to 
inkyness ;  and  the  silent  tides,  undisturbed  by 
ripple  or  wash,  pass  beneath  a  pasty  film  of 
constantly  forming  ice.  The  thermometer 
is  at  10°.  Away  from  the  ship,  a  long  way, 
I  walked  over  the  older  ice  to  a  spot  where 
the  open  river  was  as  wide  as  the  Delaware. 
Here,  after  some  crevice- jumping  and 
tickly -bender  crossing,  I  set  myself  behind  a 
little  rampart  of  hummocks,  watching  for 
seals. 

"As  I  watched,  the  smoke,  the  frost- 
smoke,  came  down  in  wreaths,  like  the  lam- 
bent tongues   of  burning  turpentine   seen 


120     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

without  the  blaze.  I  was  soon  enveloped  in 
crapy  mist. 

"To  shoot  seal,  one  must  practice  the 
Esquimaux  tactics  of  much  patience  and 
complete  immobility.  It  is  no  fun,  I  assure 
you  after  full  experience,  to  sit  motionless 
and  noiseless  as  a  statue,  with  a  cold  iron 
musket  in  your  hands,  and  the  thermometer 
10°  below  zero.  But  by-and-by  I  was  re- 
warded by  seeing  some  overgrown  Green- 
land calves  come  within  shot.  I  missed. 
After  another  hour  of  cold  expectation,  they 
came  again.  Very  strange  are  these  seal. 
A  countenance  between  the  dog  and  the 
mild  African  ape — an  exj^ression  so  like  that 
of  humanity,  that  it  makes  gun-murderers 
hesitate.  At  last,  at  long  shot,  I  hit  one. 
God  forgive  me ! 

"The  ball  did  not  kill  outright.  It  was 
out  of  range,  struck  too  low,  and  entered  the 
lungs.  The  poor  beast  had  risen  breast- 
high  out  of  water,  like  the  treading-water 
swimmers  among  ourselves.  He  was  thus 
supported,  looking  about  with  curious,  ex- 
pectant eyes,  when  the  ball  entered  his  lungs. 

"For  a  moment  he  oozed  a  little  bright 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     121 

blood  from  his  mouth,  and  looked  toward  me 
with  a  sort  of  startled  reproachfulness. 
Then  he  dipped;  an  instant  after,  he  came 
up  still  nearer,  looked  again,  bled  again,  and 
went  down.  A  half  instant  afterward,  he 
came  up  flurriedly,  looked  about  with 
anguish  in  his  eyes,  for  he  was  quite  near  me ; 
but  slowly  he  sunk,  struggling  feebly,  rose 
again,  sunk  again,  struggled  a  very  little 
more.  The  thing  was  drowning  in  the  ele- 
ment of  his  sportive  revels.  He  did  drown 
finally,  and  sunk ;  and  so  I  lost  him. 

"Have  naturalists  ever  noticed  the  expres- 
sion of  this  animal's  phiz?  Curiosity,  con- 
tentment, pain,  reproach,  despair,  even  resig- 
nation I  thought,  I  saw  on  this  seal's  face. 

"About  half  an  hour  afterward,  I  killed 
another.  Scurvy  and  sea-life  craving  for 
fresh  meat  led  me  to  it ;  but  I  shot  him  dead. 

"On  returning  to  the  ship,  I  found  one 
toe  frost-bitten — a  tallow-looking  dead 
man's  toe — which  was  restored  to  its  original 
ugly  vitahty  by  snow-rubbing.  Served  me 
right ! 

"Spent  the  afternoon  in  unsuccessful  seal 
stalking,  and  in  rigging  and  contriving  a 


122     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

spring-gun  for  the  Arctic  foxes:  a  blood- 
thirsty day.  But  we  ate  of  fox  to-day  for 
dinner ;  and  behold,  and  it  was  good. 

''October  5,  Saturday.  The  wind  evi- 
dently freshens  up.  The  day  has  been  bit- 
terly cold.  Although  our  lowest  tempera- 
ture was  zero  and — 1°,  we  felt  it  far  more 
than  the  low  temperature  of  yesterday. 
Our  maximum  was  as  high  as  4° ;  yet,  with 
this,  it  required  active  motion  on  deck  to 
keep  one's  self  warm. 

"At  12h.  55  m.,  we  had  an  interval  of 
clear  sunshine.  The  utmost,  however,  to 
which  it  would  raise  one  of  the  long  register 
Smithsonian  thermometers  was  7°.  The  air 
was  filled  with  bright  particles  of  frozen 
moisture,  which  glittered  in  the  sunshine — 
a  shimmering  of  transparent  dust.* 

"At  the  same  time,  we  had  a  second  ex- 
hibition of  parhelia,  not  so  vivid  in  prismatic 
tints  as  that  of  the  30th  of  September,  but 
more  complete.  The  sun  was  expanded  in 
a  bright  glare  of  intensely  white  light,  and 
was  surrounded  by  two  distinct  concentric 

*  Under  the  microscope  these  again  showed  obscure  modi- 
fications of  the  hexagon. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     123 

circles,  delicately  tinted  on  their  inner  mar- 
gins with  the  red  of  the  spectrum.  The 
radius  of  the  inner,  as  measured  by  the  sex- 
tant, was  22°  04';  that  of  the  outer,  40°  15'. 
The  lowest  portions  of  both  were  beneath 
the  horizon,  and  of  course  not  seen. 

"From  the  central  disk  proceeded  four 
radii,  coincident  with  the  vertical  and  the 
horizontal  diameters  of  the  circles. 

"Their  visible  points  of  intersection  were 
marked  by  bright  parhelia;  each  parhelion 
having  its  circumference  well  defined,  but 
compressed  so  as  to  have  no  resemblance 
to  the  solar  disk. 

Six  of  these  were  visible  at  the  same  mo- 
ment ;  those  of  the  outer  circle  being  fainter 
than  the  inner.  Touching  the  upper  circum- 
ference of  this  outer  circle  was  the  arc  of  a 
third,  which  extended  toward  the  zenith. 
Indeed,  at  one  time  I  thought  I  saw  a  lumi- 
nosity overhead,  which  may  have  corre- 
sponded to  its  centre.  The  tints  of  this  sup- 
plemental circle  were  very  bright.  The 
glowing  atmosphere  about  the  sun  was  very 
striking. 

"The  strange  openings  in  the  water  of  a 


124     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

few  hours  ago  are  now  great  rivers,  lined  by 
banks  of  hummocks,  and  wreathed  in  frost 
smoke.  The  continually  increasing  wind 
from  the  northward  explains  this  southern 
drift  of  the  ice,  and  with  it  these  unwelcome 
openings.  We  are  stationary,  and  the  de- 
tached ice  is  leaving  us. 

"The  strong  floe  of  ice-table  under  ice- 
table,  and  hummock  upon  hummock,  makes 
our  position  one  of  nearly  complete  solidity. 
We  are  glued  up  in  ice;  and  to  liberate  us, 
some  fearful  disruption  must  take  place. 
Twenty-five  feet  of  solid  ice  is  no  feeble  ma- 
trix, for  a  brig  drawing  but  ten.  Yet  the 
water  is  wider,  and  still  widening  around  us ; 
so  that  now  we  hold  on — that  is,  our  floe 
holds  on,  to  the  great  mass  to  the  north  of  us, 
like  a  little  peninsular  cape. 

"To  the  south  every  thing  is  in  drifting 
motion — water,  sludge,  frost-smoke — but  no 
seals. 

"We  caught  a  poor  httle  fox  to-day  in  a 
dead-fall.     We  ate  him  as  an  anti-scorbutic. 

"October  6,  Sunday.  A  dismal  day;  the 
wind  howling,  and  the  snow,  fine  as  flour, 
drifting  into  every  chink  and  cranny.     The 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     125 

cold  quite  a  nuisance,  although  the  mercury 
is  up  again  to  +6°.  It  is  blowing  a  gale. 
What  if  the  floe,  in  which  we  are  providen- 
tially glued,  should  take  it  into  its  head  to 
break  off,  and  carry  us  on  a  cruise  before  the 
wind! 

"8  P.M.  Took  a  pole,  and  started  off  to 
make  a  voyage  of  discovery  around  our  floe. 
After  some  weary  walking  over  hummocks, 
and  some  uncomfortable  sousings  in  the 
snow-dust,  found  that  our  cape  has  dwin- 
dled to  an  isthmus.  In  the  midst  of  snow 
and  haze,  of  course,  I  did  not  venture  across 
to  the  other  ice. 

"We  look  now  anxiously  at  the  gale — 
turning  in,  clothes  on,  so  as  to  be  ready  for 
changes. 

"12  Midnight.  They  report  us  adrift. 
Wind,  a  gale  from  the  northward  and  west- 
ward. An  odd  cruise  this!  The  American 
expedition  fast  in  a  lump  of  ice  about  as  big 
as  Washington  Square,  and  driving,  like  the 
shanty  on  a  raft,  before  a  howling  gale. 

''October  7,  Monday.  Going  on  deck  this 
morning,  a  new  coast  met  my  eyes.  Our 
little  matrix  of  ice  had  floated  at  least  twenty 


1S6     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

miles  to  the  south  from  yesterday's  anchor- 
age. The  gale  continues;  but  the  day  is 
beautifully  clear,  and  we  have  neared  the 
western  coast  enough  to  recognize  the  fea- 
tures of  the  limestone  cliffs,  although  many 
a  wrinkle  of  them  is  now  pearl-powdered 
with  snow-drift. 

"Prominent  among  these  was  Advance 
Bluff ;  and  to  the  south  of  it,  a  great  indenta- 
tion in  the  limestone  escarpment,  which  ran 
back  into  a  gray  distance — a  sort  of  gorge, 
with  a  summer  water-course.  Further  off. 
Point  Innes  again,  and  the  shingle  beach  of 
'the  Graves';  and  a  high  bluff -like  cape  or 
headland  to  the  southward  and  westward, 
which  the  captain  supposes  to  be  Barlow's 
Inlet. 

"10  P.M.  Our  master  got  an  observation 
this  evening  of  a  Aquila  (circum-meridian 
altitude),  giving  us  a  latitude  of  74°  54' 
07''.  The  seat  of  our  late  resting  place  was 
in  latitude  75°  24'  52"  N.  We  have  there- 
fore voyaged  30  miles  45  seconds  since  this 
new  start.  At  this  rate,  should  the  wind 
continue,  another  day  will  carry  us  again  into 
Lancaster  Sound. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     127 

'"October  8.  Still  we  drift.  Barlow's 
Inlet  is  nearly  abreast  of  us,  and  Cape 
Hotham  seen  distinctly.  The  broad,  un- 
terminated  expanse  of  ice  to  the  south  is 
Lancaster  Sound,  sixty  miles  distant  when 
we  first  began  our  prisoner's  journey. 
Thermometer  at  +8°. 

"To-day  seemed  like  a  wave  of  the  hand- 
kerchief from  our  receding  summer.  Win- 
ter is  in  every  thing.  Yet  the  skies  came 
back  to  us  with  warm  ochres  and  pinks,  and 
the  sun,  albeit  from  a  lowly  altitude,  shone 
out  in  full  brightness.  It  was  a  mockery  of 
warmth,  however,  scarcely  worthy  the  un- 
pretending sincerity  of  the  great  planet ;  for 
the  mercury,  exposed  to  the  full  radiance  of 
his  deceitful  glare,  rose  but  two  degrees: 
from  +7°  to  9°.  In  spite  of  this,  the  day 
was  beautiful  to  remember,  as  a  type  of  the 
sort  of  thing  which  we  once  shared  with  the 
world  from  which  we  are  shut  out ;  a  parting 
picture,  to  think  about  during  the  long  night. 
These  dark  days,  or  rather  the  dark  day, 
will  soon  be  on  us.  The  noon  shadows  of 
our  long  masts  almost  lose  themselves  in  the 
distance. 


128     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"A  little  white  fox  was  caught  alive  in  a 
trap  this  morning.  He  was  an  astute- 
visaged  little  scamp ;  and  although  the  chains 
of  captivity,  made  of  spun-yarn  and  leather, 
set  hardly  upon  him,  he  could  spare  abun- 
dant leisure  for  bear  bones  and  snow.  He 
would  drink  no  water.  His  cry  resembled 
the  inter-paroxysmal  yell  of  a  very  small  boy 
undergoing  spanking.  The  note  came  with 
an  impulsive  vehemence,  that  expressed  not 
only  fear  and  pain,  but  a  very  tolerable  spice 
of  anger  and  ill-temper." 

He  was  soon  reconciled,  however.  The 
very  next  day  he  was  tame  enough  to  feed 
from  the  hand,  and  had  lost  all  that  startled 
wildness  of  look  which  is  supposed  to  char- 
acterize his  tribe.  He  was  evidently  unused 
to  man,  and  without  the  educated  instinct  of 
flight.  Twice,  when  suffered  to  escape  from 
the  vessel,  he  was  caught  in  our  traps  the 
same  night.  Indeed,  the  white  foxes  of  this 
region — we  caught  more  than  thirty  of  them 
— seemed  to  look  at  us  with  more  curiosity 
than  fear.  They  would  come  directly  to  the 
ship's  side ;  and,  though  startled  at  first  when 
we  fired  at  them,  soon  came  back.     They 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     129 

even  suffered  us  to  approach  them  almost 
within  reach  of  the  hand,  ran  around  us,  as 
we  gave  the  halloo,  in  a  narrow  circle,  but 
stopped  as  soon  as  we  were  still,  and  stared 
us  inquisitively  in  the  face.  One  little  fel- 
low, when  we  let  him  loose  on  the  ice  after 
keeping  him  prisoner  for  a  day  or  two, 
scampered  back  again  incontinently  to  his 
cubby-hole  on  the  deck.  There  may  be  mat- 
ter of  reflection  for  the  naturalist  in  this. 
Has  this  animal  no  natural  enemy  but 
famine  and  cold?  The  foxes  ceased  to  visit 
us  soon  after  this,  owing  probably  to  the  un- 
certain ice  between  us  and  the  shore:  they 
are  shrewd  ice-masters. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WE  remained  during  the  rest  of 
this  month  ice-cradled,  and 
drifting  about  near  the  outlet 
of  Wellington  Chamiel.  Oc- 
casionally a  strong  southerly  wind  would  set 
us  back  again  to  the  north,  as  far,  perhaps  as 
Barlow's  Inlet;  but  it  was  soon  apparent 
that  the  greater  compactness  of  the  barrier 
that  had  come  down  after  us,  and  the  force 
of  some  unknown  current,  were  resisting 
our  progress  in  that  direction.  A  northerly 
wind,  on  the  other  hand,  seemed  to  have  no 
counteracting  influences.  A  little  while 
after  it  began  to  blow,  open  leads  would 
present  themselves  under  our  lee,  and  the  floe 
which  imbedded  us  moved  gradually  and 
without  conflict  through  them  toward  the 
south.  Our  thoughts  turned  irresistibly  to 
the  broad  expanse  of  Lancaster  Sound, 
which  lay  wild  and  rugged  before  us,  and  to 
the  increasing  probability  that  it  was  to  be 

130 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     ISl 

our  field  of  trial  during  the  long,  dark  win- 
ter— perhaps  our  final  home. 

With  this  feeling  came  an  increasing  de- 
sire to  communicate  with  our  late  associates 
of  Union  Bay.  I  had  volunteered  some 
weeks  before  to  make  this  traverse,  and  had 
busied  myself  with  arrangements  to  carry  it 
out.  The  Rescue  s  India-rubber  boat  was 
to  carry  the  party  through  the  leads,  and, 
once  at  the  shore,  three  men  were  to  press 
on  with  a  light  tent  and  a  few  days'  provi- 
sions. The  project,  impracticable  perhaps 
from  the  first,  was  foiled  for  a  time  by  a 
vexatious  incident.  I  had  made  my  tent  of 
thin  cotton  cloth,  so  that  it  weighed,  when 
completed,  but  fourteen  pounds,  soaking  it 
thoroughly  in  a  composition  of  caoutchouc, 
ether,  and  linseed  oil,  the  last  in  quantity. 
After  it  was  finished  and  nearly  dried,  I 
wrapped  it  up  in  a  dry  covering  of  coarse 
muslin,  and  placed  it  for  the  night  in  a  locked 
closet,  at  some  distance  from  the  cook's 
galley,  where  the  temperature  was  between 
80°  and  90°.  In  the  morning  it  was  de- 
stroyed. The  wrapper  was  there,  retaining 
its  form,  and  not  discolored;  but  the  outer 


132     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

folds  of  the  tent  were  smoking ;  and,  as  I  un- 
rolled it,  fold  after  fold  showed  more  and 
more  marks  of  combustion,  till  at  the  centre 
it  was  absolutely  charred.  There  was 
neither  flame  nor  spark. 

In  a  few  days  more  the  tumult  of  the  ice- 
fields had  made  all  chance  of  reaching  the 
shore  hopeless.  But  the  meantime  was  not 
passed  without  efforts. 

"October  23.  I  started  with  a  couple  of 
men  on  another  attempt  to  reach  the  shore. 
After  five  miles  of  walking,  with  recurring 
alternations  of  climbing,  leaping,  rolling, 
and  soaking,  we  found  that  the  ice  had  driven 
out  from  the  coast,  and  a  black  lane  of  open 
water  stopped  our  progress.  This  is  the 
seventh  attempt  to  cross  the  ice,  all  meeting 
with  failure  from  the  same  cause.  The  mo- 
tion of  ice,  influenced  by  winds,  tides,  and 
currents,  keeps  constantly  abrading  the 
shore-line.  Any  outward  drift,  of  course, 
makes  an  irregular  lane  of  water,  which  a 
single  night  converts  into  ice;  the  returning 
floes  heap  this  in  tables  one  over  another ;  and 
the  next  outward  set  carries  off  the  floes 
again,  crowned  with  their  new  increment. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     133 

"The  haze  gathered  around  us  about  an 
hour  after  starting,  and  the  hummocks  were 
so  covered  with  snow  that  the  chasms  often 
received  us  middle  deep.  We  walked  five 
hours  and  a  half,  makmg  in  all  but  eleven 
miles;  and  even  then  were  at  least  a  mile 
from  the  beach. 

"At  one  portion  of  our  route,  the  ice  had 
the  crushed  sugar  character ;  the  lumps  vary- 
ing in  size  from  a  small  cantaloupe  to  a 
water-melon,  but  hard  as  frozen  water  at 
zero  ought  to  be.  Over  this  stuff  we  walked 
in  tiptoe  style — and  a  very  miserable  style 
it  was. 

"At  another  place,  for  a  mile  and  a  half, 
we  trod  on  the  fractured  angles  of  upturned 
ice.  Call  these  curbstones ;  toss  them  in  mad 
confusion,  always  taking  care  that  their 
edges  shall  be  uppermost;  dust  them  over 
with  flour  cooled  down  to  zero;  and  set  a 
poor  wretch  loose,  in  the  centre  of  a  misty 
circle,  to  try  for  a  pathway  over  them  to 
the  shore! 

"At  another  place,  break-water  stones, 
great  quarried  masses  of  ice,  let  you  up  and 
down,  but  down  oftener  than  up.     At  an- 


134,    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

other  time,  you  travel  over  rounded  dunes  of 
old  seasoned  hummock,  covered  with  slip- 
pery glaze.  Again,  it  is  over  snow,  recent 
and  soft,  or  snow,  recent  and  sufficiently 
crusty  to  bear  you  five  paces  and  let  you 
through  the  sixth — a  trial  alike  to  temper 
and  legs. 

"At  last,  to  crown  the  delicice  of  our  Arctic 
walk,  we  come  to  a  long  meadow  of  recent 
ice,  just  enough  covered  with  snow  to  keep 
you  from  sKpping,  and  just  thin  enough  to 
make  it  elastic  as  a  polka  floor.  Over  this, 
with  a  fine  bracing  air,  every  nerve  tingling 
with  the  exercise,  and  the  hoary  rime  whiten- 
ing your  beard,  you  walk  with  a  delightful 
sense  of  ease  and  enjoyment. 

"One  of  my  attendants  had  both  ears 
frost-bitten;  the  whole  external  cartilage 
(Pinna)  was  of  tallow,  jaundiced.  Snow- 
rubbing  set  him  right.  I  have  ordered  the 
men  to  take  ear-rings  from  their  ears.  Wil- 
son, a  Livournese,  rejoiced  in  a  couple  of 
barbaric  pendules,  doubtless  of  bad  gold,  but 
good  conducting  power." 

The  indications  of  winter  were  still  be- 
coming more  and  more  marked.     On  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     135 

11th,  the  sun  rose  but  9°  at  meridian;  on  the 
15th  but  6° ;  and  on  the  7th  of  November,  at 
the  same  hour,  it  ahuost  rested  on  the  hori- 
zon. The  dayhght,  however,  was  sometimes 
strangely  beautiful.  One  day  in  particular, 
the  8th,  a  rosy  tint  diffused  itself  over  every 
thing,  shaded  off  a  little  at  the  zenith,  but 
passing  down  from  pink  to  violet,  and  from 
violet  to  an  opalescent  purple,  that  banded 
the  entire  horizon. 

The  moon  made  its  appearance  on  the  13th 
of  October.  At  first  it  was  like  a  bonfu*e, 
warming  up  the  ice  with  a  red  glare;  but 
afterward,  on  the  15th,  when  it  rose  to  the 
height  of  4°,  it  silvered  the  hummocks  and 
frozen  leads,  and  gave  a  softened  lustre  to 
the  snow,  through  which  our  two  little  brigs 
stood  out  in  black  and  solitary  contrast. 
The  stars  seemed  to  have  lost  their  twinkle, 
and  to  shine  with  concentrated  brightness 
as  if  through  gimlet-holes  in  the  cobalt  can- 
opy. The  frost-smoke  scarcely  left  the  field 
of  view.  It  generally  hung  in  wreaths 
around  the  horizon;  but  it  sometimes  took 
eccentric  forms;  and  one  night,  I  remember, 
it  piled  itself  into  a  column  at  the  west,  and 


136     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Aquila  flamed  above  it  like  a  tall  beacon- 
light.  We  were  glad  to  note  these  fanciful 
resemblances  to  the  aspects  of  a  more  kindly 
region ;  they  withdrew  us  sometimes  from  the 
sullen  realities  of  the  world  that  encompassed 
us — ice,  frost-smoke,  and  a  threatening  sky. 

We  had  parhelia  again  more  than  once, 
but  developed  imperfectly;  a  mass  of  in- 
candescence 22°  from  the  sun,  with  prismatic 
coloring,  but  without  the  circular  and  radial 
appearances  that  had  characterized  it  before. 
On  the  27th,  a  partial  paraselene  was  visible, 
the  first  we  observed — merely  the  limbs  of 
two  broken  arcs,  destitute  of  prismatic  tint, 
stretching  like  circumflexes  at  about  23°  dis- 
tance on  each  side  the  moon ;  the  moon  about 
20°  high,  thermometer  —10°,  barometer  30. 
55,  atmosphere  hazy.  The  sky  clearing 
shortly  afterward,  it  shone  out  with  increased 
beauty  for  a  while,  but  died  away  as  the  haze 
disappeared. 

The  thermometer  was  now  generally  be- 
low the  zero  point,  sometimes  rising  for  a 
little  while  about  noon  a  few  degrees  above 
it,  once  only  as  high  as  +13°.  When  there 
was  no  wind,  even  the  lowest  of  its  range  was 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     137 

quite  bearable;  and  while  we  were  exercis- 
ing actively,  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that 
our  sensations  could  be  so  strikingly  in  con- 
trast with  the  absolute  temperature.  But  a 
breeze,  or  a  pause  of  motion  till  we  could 
raise  the  sextant  to  a  star  or  make  out  some 
changing  phasis  of  the  ice-field,  never  failed 
to  persuade  us,  and  that  feelingly,  that  the 
mercury  was  honest.  Night  after  night  the 
bed-clothes  froze  at  our  feet;  and  a  poor 
copy  of  the  New  York  Herald,  that  lay  at 
the  head  of  the  captain's  bunk,  was  glazed 
with  ice. 

"Novemher  8.  Tempted  by  the  over- 
arching beauty  of  the  sky,  I  started  off  this 
morning  with  Captain  De  Haven  on  a  walk 
of  inspection  shoreward.  The  open  water, 
frozen  since  October  2d,  is  now  nearly  two 
feet  thick,  and  at  this  low  temperature 
(—15°)  it  becomes  hard  and  brittle  as  glass. 
Wherever  the  nipping  has  caught  two  of  the 
floes,  they  have  been  driven  with  a  force  in- 
conceivable one  above  the  other,  rising  and 
falling  until  they  now  form  a  ridge  fifteen 
or  twenty  feet  high. 

"The  tension  of  the  great  field  of  ice  over 


138     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

which  we  passed  must  have  been  enormous. 
It  had  a  sensible  curvature.  On  striking  the 
surface  with  a  walking-pole,  loud  reports 
issued  like  a  pistol-shot,  and  lines  of  fissure 
radiated  from  the  point  of  impact.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  blow  of  an  axe  would  sever 
the  keystone,  and  break  up  by  a  shock  the 
entire  expanse.  In  one  place  the  ice  sud- 
denly arched  up  like  a  bow  while  we  were 
looking  at  it,  burst  into  fragments,  collapsed 
at  the  exterior  margins  of  fracture,  and  by 
the  work  of  a  moment  created  a  long  barrier 
line  of  ruins  ten  feet  high.  Our  position 
was  one  of  peril.  We  had  crossed  two  miles 
of  ice.  A  change  of  tide  relieved  the  strain, 
and  we  returned. 

"The  nearest  break-up  to  our  homestead 
floe  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  off. 
It  is  now  to  the  south;  though  our  position, 
constantly  changing,  alters  the  bearing  by 
the  hour.  Very  many  of  the  masses  that 
compose  it  are  as  large  as  the  grapery  at 
home,  two  hundred  feet  long  perhaps,  and 
lifted  up,  barricade-fashion,  as  high  as  our 
second  story  windows." 

The  next  day  our  winter  arrangements 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     139 

were  completed.  They  were  simple  enough, 
and  hardly  worth  describing  in  detail.  A 
housing  of  thick  felt  was  drawn  completely 
over  the  deck,  resting  on  a  sort  of  ridge- 
pole running  fore  and  aft,  and  coming  down 
close  at  the  sides.  The  rime  and  snow-drift 
in  an  hour  or  two  made  it  nearly  impervious 
to  the  weather.  The  cook's  galley  stood  on 
the  kelson,  under  the  main  hatch;  its  stove- 
pipe rising  through  the  housing  above,  and 
its  funnel-shaped  apparatus  for  melting 
snow  attached  below.  The  bulkheads  be- 
tween cabin  and  forecastle  had  been  re- 
moved; and  two  stoves,  one  at  each  end  of 
the  berth-deck,  distributed  their  heat  among 
officers  and  seamen  alike.  We  had  of  course 
a  community  of  aU  manner  of  odors ;  and  as 
our  only  direct  ventilation  was  by  the  gang- 
way, we  had  the  certainty  of  a  sufficient  di- 
versity of  temperatures. 

The  exemption  from  gales,  that  has  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  other  travelers  in  this 
region,  had  not  yet  been  confirmed  by  our 
experience.  On  the  contrary,  our  approach 
to  Lancaster  Sound,  and  the  earlier  part  of 
our  drift  after  we  entered  it,  were  marked 


140     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

by  frequent  storms.  Some  of  these  had  all 
the  sublimity  that  could  belong  to  a  mingled 
sense  of  danger  and  discomfort.  They  re- 
minded me  of  the  sand-storms  of  the  Sahara. 
"The  fine  particles  of  snow  flew  by  us  in  a 


STOVE    IN    COOK  S   GALLEY    WITH    APPARATUS   FOR    MELTING 
SNOW. 


continuous  stream.  When  they  met  the  un- 
protected face,  the  sensation  was  like  the 
puncture  of  needles.  Standing  under  the 
lee  of  our  brig,  and  watching  the  drift  as  it 
scudded  on  the  wings  of  the  storm  through 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     141 

the  interval  between  the  two  vessels,  the  lines 
of  sweeping  snow  were  so  unbroken  that  its 
filaments  seemed  woven  into  a  mysterious 
tissue.  Objects  fifty  yards  off  were  invisi- 
ble: no  one  could  leave  the  vessels." 

The  month  of  November  found  us  oscillat- 
ing still  with  the  winds  and  currents  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Beechy  Island.  Helpless 
as  we  were  among  the  floating  masses,  we 
began  to  look  upon  the  floe  that  carried  us 
as  a  protecting  barrier  against  the  ap- 
proaches of  others  less  friendly;  and  as  the 
month  advanced,  and  the  chances  increased 
of  our  passing  into  the  sound,  our  apprehen- 
sions of  being  frozen  up  in  the  heart  of  the 
ice-pack  gave  place  to  the  opposite  fear  of 
a  continuous  drift.  We  had  seen  enough, 
and  encountered  enough  of  the  angry  strife 
among  the  ice-floes  in  the  channel,  to  assure 
us  of  disaster  if  we  should  be  forced  to 
mingle  in  the  sterner  conflicts  of  the  older 
ice-fields  of  the  sound.  Yet,  as  the  new 
fields  continued  forming  about  us,  thicken- 
ing gradually  from  inches  to  feet,  and  lock- 
ing together  the  floes  in  one  great  amor- 
phous expanse,  we  retained  a  hope  to  the  last 


142     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

that  our  island  floe,  thickening  like  the  rest, 
and  piling  its  wall  of  hummocks  around  us, 
would  continue  to  ward  us  from  attack,  till 
the  all-j^ervading  frost  had  made  it  a  station- 
ary part  of  the  great  winter  covering  of  the 
Arctic  Sea.  It  encountered  almost  daily  im- 
mense hummocks,  some  of  them  impinging 
against  us  while  we  were  apparently  at  rest ; 
some,  apparently  motionless,  receiving  the 
impact  from  us.  At  such  times  our  floe 
would  be  deflected  at  an  angle  from  its 
normal  course,  or  would  rotate  slowly  round 
its  centre,  and  pass  on — not,  however,  al- 
ways in  the  same  direction ;  sometimes  near- 
ing  the  western  shore,  sometimes  closing  in 
upon  the  beach  of  "the  Graves,"  and  some- 
times fluctuating  slowly  to  the  northward. 

But  our  general  course  was  toward  the 
south  and  east.  On  the  17th  we  were  fairly 
in  the  sound.  It  welcomed  us  coldly.  The 
mercury  stood  for  a  while  at  —19°,  and 
sunk  during  the  night  to  —27°. 

The  next  day,  however,  a  shift  of  wind, 
gradually  increasing  in  force,  combined  with 
a  tidal  influence  to  drive  us  back  to  our  old 
position.     The  thermometer  was  at  this  time 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     143 

lower  than  we  had  ever  seen  it,  and  the  sky 
seemed  to  sympathize  with  the  temperature. 
The  moon  had  a  sohd  look,  resting  upon  the 
snowhills  of  Cape  Riley,  like  a  great  viscid 
globe  of  illumination.  In  the  morning  the 
sky  combined  aU  the  tints  of  the  spectrum  in 
regular  zones,  a  broad  band  of  orange  gird- 
ing the  horizon  with  an  almost  uniform  in- 
tensity of  color.  The  stars  shone  during  the 
entire  day.  At  daybreak  on  the  18th,  Leo- 
pold's Island  rose  by  refraction  above  the 
ice,  standing  with  its  unmistakable  outhne 
clearly  black  against  the  orange  sky;  but  it 
went  down  as  the  sun  neared  the  horizon,  and 
passed  to  the  south  of  his  low  circuit.  My 
journal  for  the  next  two  days  shows  the 
degree  of  illumination  at  the  different 
hours. 

"November  20,  Wednesday.  The  winds 
are  unlike  those  encountered  by  Parry,  our 
only  predecessor  in  this  region  at  this  season 
of  the  year.  It  has  been  very  providential, 
and  very  unexpected  for  us,  this  predomi- 
nance of  breezes  from  the  southward  and 
eastward.  It  has  prevented  our  drifting  into 
the  dreaded  sound,  there  to  be  carried,  if  it 


U4i    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

pleased  Fortune,  into  Baffin's  Bay  by  the 
easterly  current. 

"We  had  a  heavy  gale  from  2  p.m.  of  yes- 
terday (19th)  until  this  morning  at  9  a.m., 
hauhng  round  from  southeast  to  east-south- 
east. After  this  last  hour,  it  gradually  died 
away;  and  now,  at  3  p.m.,  we  have  a  gentle 
breeze  from  the  same  quarter.  The  wind 
has  left  the  north  since  the  18th. 

"Our  temperature,  which  on  the  18th  gave 
us  —27°,  the  lowest  we  have  yet  recorded, 
was  at  the  close  of  the  next  day  but  —6°; 
and  to-day  its  extreme  was  —4°.  Now,  by 
gradual  elevation,  it  has  reached  zero. 

"Zero  once  more,  and  a  positive  sensation 
of  warmth!  There  was  no  wind;  and  the 
haze  vapors  so  softened  this  once  greatest 
cold,  that  I  walked  about  with  bare  hands 
and  sweating  body. 

"The  daylight  is  hardly  now  worthy  of  the 
name,  according  to  the  Philadelphia  notions 
of  the  blessing;  but  to  us  it  is  the  last  leaf  of 
the  sibyl.  Here  is  a  little  record  of  its  in- 
comings and  outgoings. 

"9  a.m.  Breakfast  over;  furs  on;  deck 
covered  in  with  black  felt,  the  frozen  con- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     145 

densation  patching  it  with  large  white  wafers 
of  snow.  A  lantern  makes  it  barety  light 
enough  to  walk.  ~No  red  streak  to  the  east : 
one  misty  haze  of  visible  darkness. 

"10  A.M.  A  twilight  gloom:  can  just  see 
the  Azimuth,  with  its  tripod  stand,  thirty 
yards  off  on  the  ice.  Snow  whirhng  in 
drifts. 

"11  A.M.  Can  read  newspaper  print  by 
going  to  open  daylight,  i.  e.,  twilight — the 
twilight  of  a  foggy  sunrise  at  home. 

"12  M.  Noonday.  A  streak  of  brown 
red  looms  up  above  the  mist  to  the  south. 
Save  a  Httle  more  light  from  the  'foggy  sun- 
rise' of  11  A.M.,  no  great  perceptible  differ- 
ence; yet  I  can  now  read  the  finest  print 
easily. 

"1  P.M.  Very  decidedly  more  hazy  than 
at  11,  the  corresponding  hour  before  merid- 
ian. Can  read  with  difficulty  the  newspaper 
— London  Illustrated  News. 

"2  P.M.  A  hazy  darkness,  but  so  com- 
pounded with  the  fast-rising  Hght  of  the  dear 
moon,  that  it  is  far  lighter  than  the  corre- 
sponding hour  before  meridian. 

"Day  is  over.     Moonlight  begins ! 


146     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  our  usual  day. 
The  occasional  clear  day,  such  as  we  had  the 
18th,  is  far  lighter,  and  fuU  of  variety  and 
interest. 

"November  21,  Thursday.  The  day  is 
clear;  but  the  moonhght,  an  absolute  clair 
de  lune,  so  confounds  itself  with  the  day  as 
to  make  a  merely  solar  register  impossible. 

"8  A.M.  The  whole  atmosphere  bathed  in 
pellucid  clearness.  The  moon,  like  a  lumi- 
nous sjihere,  not  a  circle,  as  with  us,  is  away 
up  the  straits  in  the  northern  sky.  Not  a 
speck  betokens  sunrise. 

"9  A.M.  The  southeastern  horizon  is 
zoned  with  a  mellow  uniform  band  of  light. 
Nothing  we  have  seen  has  its  extension  or 
its  uniformity.  The  visual  angle  is  an  un- 
broken tint,  rising  from  the  ice  with  a  raw 
sienna,  mellowing  into  pink,  and  softened 
again  into  an  orange  yellow,  which  runs 
sometimes  through  a  gradation  of  green  into 
the  clear  blue  sky.  The  moon  absorbs  all 
perception  of  other  light. 

"10  A.M.  The  light  of  dawn  begins  to 
mingle  with  the  moonlight;  I  can  not  say 
where  or  how,  but  I  am  conscious  of  an  in- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     147 

terfering  light.  To  the  southward  all  is 
orange,  and  red,  and  solar.  To  the  north- 
ward, from  a  cobalt  sky  of  even  tint,  the 
moon  'shineth  down  alone' — alone,  save  the 
bright  planet  Satm-n  to  the  northward,  and 
the  broad  zone  of  red  sunrise  at  the  south. 

"11  A.M.  Day  uj)on  us  on  one  side,  and 
moon  bright  on  the  other:  moonlight  and 
sunlight  blend  overhead.  To  the  north  and 
south,  each  keeps  its  separate  dominion.  I 
read  the  finest  print  readily. 

"12  M.  Walked  out  to  see  the  ice.  I 
have  no  change  of  words  left  to  describe 
noonday.  The  sunlight  zone  of  color  was 
more  light  and  less  bright,  perhaps — and  the 
moon  was  more  bright  and  less  light,  per- 
haps; but  both  were  there. 

"1  P.M.  The  light  hardly  dimmed;  but 
the  moon  shines  out  so  emulously,  that  it  is 
hard  to  measure  the  sunlight. 

"2  P.M.  It  is  evidently  no  longer  day,  al- 
though the  southwestern  horizon  is  flared 
with  red  streaks,  and  a  softening  of  yellow 
into  the  blue  of  heaven  says  that  the  sun  is 
somewhere  below  it.  The  moon  has  con- 
fused the  day;  and  coming  as  she  does  at 


148     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

this  commencement  of  our  long  night,  I  bless 
her  for  the  grateful  service.     I  make  my 
four  to  six  hours  of  daily  walk,  and  hardly 
miss  the  guidance  of  day. 
"3  P.M.     Moonlight!" 


CHAPTER  IX 

*'^|^  ^OVEMBER  22.  I  walked 
^^k  I  yesterday,  and  to-day  again,  to 
I  ^W  the  open  water  that  separates 
us  from  WeUington  Channel. 
It  is  a  bold  and  rapid  river,  as  broad  as  the 
Delaware  at  Trenton  or  the  Schuylkill  at 
Philadelphia,  rolling  wildly  between  dislo- 
cated hummock  crags,  and  whirlmg  along 
in  its  black  current  the  abraded  fragments  of 
its  shores.  Ice  of  recent  growth  had  ce- 
mented the  gnarled  masses  about  its  margin 
into  a  ragged  wall  some  twenty  feet  high, 
and  perhaps  thirty  paces  wide.  I  stood  with 
perfect  safety  on  a  tall,  spire-like  pinnacle, 
and  endeavored  to  trace  its  course.  It  could 
be  seen  reaching  from  a  remote  point  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  channel,  and  is 
probably  connected  with  the  open  shore 
leads  that  stretch  from  Cape  Riley  past 
Cape  Spencer  toward  the  further  coasts  of 
North  Devon.     It  passed  about  a  mile  and 

149 


150     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

a  half  to  the  northwest  of  our  vessels,  and 
was  lost  in  the  distant  icefields  to  the  east. 

"Returning  with  Captain  De  Haven,  we 
saw  the  recent  prints  of  a  bear  and  two  cubs, 
that  had  evidently  been  scenting  our  foot- 
marks of  the  day  before.  The  old  bear  was 
not  large,  measuring  by  her  tail  only  six 
feet  four  inches;  the  young  ones  so  small 
as  to  surprise  us,  their  track  not  much  big- 
ger than  that  of  a  Newfoundland  dog.  At 
what  breeding  season  were  these  cubs  pro- 
duced? 

"I  have  been  for  some  evenings  giving 
lectures  on  topics  of  popular  science,  the  at- 
mosphere, the  barometer,  &c.,  to  the  crew. 
They  are  not  a  very  intellectual  audience, 
but  they  listen  with  apparent  interest,  and 
express  themselves  gratefully. 

"November  25.  Great  clouds  of  dark  va- 
por were  seen  to  the  southward  to-day,  the 
crape-wreaths  of  our  first  imprisonment. 
This  frost-smoke  is  an  unfailing  indication 
of  open  water,  and  to  us,  poor  prison-bound 
vagrants,  is  suggestive  of  things  not  pleas- 
ant to  think  about.  It  streamed  away  on 
the  wind  in  black  drifts. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     151 

"Our  daylight  to-day  was  a  mere  name, 
three  and  a  half  hours  of  meagre  twilight. 
I  was  struck  for  the  first  time  with  the 
bleached  faces  of  my  mess-mates.  The  sun 
left  us  finally  only  sixteen  days  ago;  but 
for  some  time  before  he  had  been  very  chary 
of  his  effective  rays;  and  our  abiding-place 
below  has  a  smoky  atmosphere  of  lamplit 
uncomfortableness.  No  wonder  we  grow 
pale  with  such  a  cosmetic.  Seventy-seven 
days  more  without  a  sunrise!  twenty-six  be- 
fore we  reach  the  solstitial  point  of  greatest 
darkness ! 

"The  temperature  continues  singularly 
mild.  Parry,  at  Melville  Island,  had  —47° 
before  this,  twenty  degrees  lower  than  our 
minimum;  and  even  in  the  more  southern 
regions  of  Port  Bowen  and  Prince  Regent's 
Straits,  the  cold  was  much  greater.  For 
some  days  now,  zero  has  not  been  an  un- 
common temperature;  and  to-day  we  are  in 
—14°,  here  far  from  unpleasantly  cold. 
May  not  much  of  this  moderated  intensity 
of  the  weather  be  referred  to  the  influence 
of  the  open  water  around  us? 

"We  are  still  in  our  old  neighborhood. 


152     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

at  the  brink  of  the  channel,  a  mile  or  so 
from  Cape  Riley,  and  both  shores  in  view. 

''November  28.  The  sunlight,  a  mere 
band  of  red  cloud;  the  day,  a  poor  apology. 
Walked  eastward  towai'd  Beechy  Island, 
dimly  seen.  The  ice  river  is  clogged  with 
ground  masses  of  granular  ice:  toward  the 
south  it  is  more  open. 

"The  wind  to-day  is  getting  stronger 
from  the  west,  with  some  northing,  of  all 
winds  the  most  to  be  feared :  the  north  drives 
us  into  Lancaster;  the  west  comes  in  aid  of 
the  current  to  keep  us  there,  and  speed  us 
back  toward  Baffin. 

"Our  thermometer  does  not  fall  below 
—11°.  The  frost-smoke  is  all  around  us  in 
bistre-colored  vapor.  Can  it  be  that  we  are 
again  detached,  our  floe  independent  alto- 
gether of  the  field?  We  have  heard  noises 
of  grinding  ice,  distant,  but  bodingly  dis- 
tinct. 

"In  my  walks  for  some  days  past,  I  have 
been  studying  the  topography  of  our  ice- 
island  residence.     Here  are  my  elements: 

"1.  To  the  north;  over  broken  ice  and 
edge-hummocks,  that  is  to  say,  hummocks 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     153 

formed  at  the  margin  of  floes  and  afterward 
cemented  there,  all  of  this  season's  growth. 
Several  large  masses,  resembling  berg-ice; 
one,  the  largest,  twenty-seven  feet  high. 
The  water-lead  margined  by  rude  hum- 
mocky  crags  trending  to  the  westward  and 
southward  from  the  southward  and  east- 
ward, forming  a  rude,  broken  horseshoe. 
Distance  to  water,  one  mile. 

"2.  To  the  south;  over  long  floes  of  re- 
cent ice,  young  snow-covered,  and  smooth, 
with  few  indications  of  heavy  pressure  at 
their  junctions.  Distance  to  open  water, 
glazed  over  with  young  ice,  two  miles :  trend 
of  this  lead  east  and  west.  The  diameter 
of  the  floe,  north  and  south,  is  three  miles 
from  water  to  water. 

"3.  To  the  east,  i.  e.,  northeast  by  east; 
rough,  mixed  ice,  with  lines  of  recent  heavy 
hummocks.  Thickness  of  ice,  averaging 
four  feet  to  five  feet  eight  inches;  ice  of 
the  early  part  of  last  August.  Distance 
to  open  river,  one  and  three  fourths  to  two 
miles.  Marks  of  recent  action  excessive 
here;  hummock  banks  massive;  and  tables 
sometimes  five  feet  thick,  rising  to  a  height 


154     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  eighteen  feet.  From  the  east  and  north- 
east, the  trend  of  the  break  is  to  the  south- 
ward at  first,  and  some  two  miles  below  to 
the  westward. 

"4.  To  the  west;  over  the  broken  region 
of  varied  ice,  traveled  over  in  my  attempts 
to  reach  Barlow's  Inlet  some  days  ago. 
Distance  to  lead,  one  mile.  Chasm  very 
irregular;  but  from  the  point  I  visited  at 
the  north  and  east,  trending  nearly  due  west, 
and  pointing  to  the  southward  of  Cape 
Hotham. 

"From  all  this  it  is  clear  enough  that  we 
are  a  moving  floe,  comparatively  isolated. 
The  only  point  of  our  circumscribed  horizon 
I  have  not  visited,  and  where  no  frost- 
smoke  asserts  the  near  proximity  of  water, 
is  the  northwest.  Whether  on  that  side  the 
ice  of  Lancaster  is  blocked  against  us  by 
the  easterly  current,  or  whether  the  frost 
has  made  our  floe  one  more  speck  in  the  mas- 
sive field,  is  the  only  question  remaining. 

''November  29.  The  doubt  is  gone.  Our 
floe,  ice-cradle,  safeguard,  has  been  thrown 
round.  Its  eastern  margin  is  grinding  its 
way  to  the  northward,  and  the  west  is  al- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     155 

ready  pointing  to  the  south.  Our  bow  is 
to  Baffin's  Bay,  and  we  are  traveling  to- 
ward it.  So  far,  ours  has  been  a  mysterious 
journeying.  For  two  months  and  more, 
not  a  sail  has  fluttered  from  our  frozen 
spars;  yet  we  have  passed  from  Lancaster 
Sound  into  the  highest  latitude  of  Welling- 
ton Channel,  one  never  attained  before,  and 
have  been  borne  back  again  ^^ast  our  point 
of  starting,  along  a  capriciously  varied  line 
of  drift.  Cape  Riley  is  bearing,  by  com- 
pass, S.  J  E.,  N.N.E.  4  E.  (true)  ;  and 
Beechy  Head,  by  compass,  S.E.  J  E.,  N.  J 
E.  (true).  Cape  Hurd  is  visible  to  the 
northward  and  eastward,  and  to  the  east  are 
the  ice-clogged  waters  of  Lancaster  Sound. 
"November  30.  When  I  came  on  deck 
this  morning,  the  lanterns  were  burning  at 
ten  o'clock,  and  the  southern  sky  had  not 
even  a  trace  of  red.  Our  head  had  slewed 
rather  more  to  the  southward;  and  off  on 
our  starboard  beam  sundry  dark  lines  on 
the  ice  had  a  suspicious  look.  I  walked  to- 
ward them  with  some  of  our  officers.  After 
sundry  groping  tumbles,  we  came,  sure 
enough,    upon    open    water,    one    hundred 


156     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

yards  to  the  south  of  the  brig.  Returning 
on  our  track,  and  taking  a  new  departure 
toward  the  east — oj)en  water  again.  Off  to 
the  dim,  hazy  north — still  open  water.  Off 
to  the  hummock}^  west,  feeling  our  way  with 
walking-poles — open  water  all  round  us. 
Once  more,  then,  we  are  launched  on  a  little 
ice-island,  to  float  wherever  God's  mercy 
may  guide  us. 

"The  India-rubber  boat  inflated,  and  a 
few  clothes  stowed  away,  ready  for  a  sudden 
break  out;  and  all  hands  turn  in  for  the 
niglit. 

"December  1.  There  was  a  rude  murmur 
in  the  night,  that  mingled  its  tones  of  ad- 
monition with  the  wind.  But  we  are  habit- 
uated pretty  thoroughly  to  sounds  of  this 
sort,  and  they  have  ceased  to  disturb  us. 
Walking  after  breakfast  toward  the  north- 
east, to  an  ice-quarry,  from  which  we  have 
obtained  our  fresh  water  of  late,  we  found 
that  a  water-crack  we  observed  j^esterday 
had  undergone  severe  pressure  during  the 
night,  and  that  the  action  was  still  going 
on.     A  low,  hazy  twilight  just  allowed  us 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     157 

to  distinguish  near  objects.  A  level,  snow- 
covered  surface  was  rising  up  in  inclined 
planes  or  rudely  undulating  curves.  These, 
breaking  at  their  summits,  fell  off  on  each 
side  in  masses  of  twenty  tons'  weight. 
Tables  of  six  feet  in  thickness  by  twenty  of 
perpendicular  height,  and  some  of  them 
fifteen  yards  in  length,  surging  up  into  the 
misty  air,  heaving,  rolling,  tottering,  and 
falling  with  a  majestic  deliberation  worthy 
of  the  forces  that  impelled  them.  When  a 
huge  block  would  rise  vertically,  tremble  for 
a  moment,  and  topple  over,  you  heard  the 
heavy  sough  of  the  snow-padding  that  re- 
ceived it;  but  this  was  only  the  deep  bass 
accompaniment  to  a  wild,  yet  not  unmusical 
chorus.  I  can  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
sounds.  There  was  the  ringing  clatter  of 
ice,  made  friable  by  the  intense  cold  and 
crumbhng  under  lateral  force ;  the  low  whine 
which  the  ice  gives  out  when  we  cut  it  at 
right  angles  with  a  sharp  knife,  rising 
sometimes  into  a  shriek,  or  sinking  to  the 
plaintive  outcry  of  our  night-hawk  at  home ; 
the  whirr  of  rapidly -urged  machinery;  the 


158     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

hum  of  multitudes:  and  all  these  mingled 
with  tones  that  have  no  analogy  among  the 
familiar  ones  of  unadventurous  life. 

"So  slowly  and  regularly  did  these  masses 
roll,  rise,  break,  and  fall,  that,  standing 
upon  a  broad  table,  ice-pole  in  air,  we  rolled 
when  it  rolled,  rose  when  it  rose,  balanced 
when  it  broke,  and  jumped  as  it  fell.  What 
would  our  quiet  people  in  brick  houses  say 
to  such  a  ride?  Temperature  at  30°  below 
zero. 

"On  deck;  looming  up  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  haze,  land!  so  high  and  close  on  our 
port  beam,  that  we  felt  like  men  under  a 
j)recipice.  We  could  see  the  vertical  crev- 
ices in  the  limestone,  the  recesses  contrast- 
ing in  black  shadow.  What  land  is  this? 
Is  it  the  eastern  line  of  Cape  Riley,  or  have 
we  reached  Cape  Ricketts? 

"There  is  one  thing  tolerably  certain:  the 
Grinnell  expedition  is  quite  as  hkely  to  be 
searched  for  hereafter  as  to  search.  Poor 
Sir  John  Franklin!  this  night  drift  is  an 
ugly  omen. 

"Do  you  remember,  in  the  Spanish  coast- 
ing craft,  down  about  Barcelona  and  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     159 

Balearics,  the  queer  little  pictures  of  Saint 
Nicholas  we  used  to  see  pasted  up  over  the 
locker — a  sort  of  mythic  effigy,  which  the 
owner  looked  upon  pretty  much  as  some  of 
our  old  commodores  do  the  barometer,  a 
mysterious  something,  which  he  sneers  at  in 
fair  weather,  but  is  sure,  in  the  strong  faith 
of  ignorance,  to  appeal  to  in  foul!  Well, 
very  much  such  a  Saint  Anthony  have  we 
down  in  the  cabin  here,  staring  us  always  in 
the  face.  Not  a  vermilion-daubed  puerility, 
with  a  glory  in  Dutch  leaf  stretching  from 
ear  to  ear;  but  a  good,  genuine,  hearty  rep- 
resentative of  English  flesh  and  blood,  a 
mouth  that  speaks  of  strong  energies  as 
well  as  a  kindly  heart,  and  an  eye — the 
other  one  is  spoiled  in  the  lithography — that 
looks  stern  will.  Many  a  time  in  the  night 
have  I  discoursed  with  him,  as  he  looked 
out  on  me  from  his  gutta  percha  frame — 
'Sir  John  Franklin;  presented  by  his  wife;' 
and  sometimes  I  have  imagined  how  and 
where  I  was  yet  to  shake  the  glorious  old 
voyager  by  the  hand.  I  see  him  now  while 
I  am  writing;  his  face  is  darkened  by  the 
lamp-smoke  that  serves  us  for  daylight  and 


160     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

air,  and  he  seems  almost  disheartened.  So 
far  as  help  and  hope  of  it  are  afloat  in  this 
little  vessel,  Sir  John,  well  you  may  be! 

"It  is  Sunday:  we  have  had  religious  serv- 
ice as  usual,  and  after  it  that  relic  of  effete 
absurdity,  the  reading  of  the  'Rules  and 
Regulations.' 

"We  had  the  aurora  about  7  p.m.  The 
thermometer  at  —33°  and  falling;  barome- 
ter, aneroid,  30°.  74;  attached  thermome- 
ter, 86°.  Wind  steady,  W.N.W.  The 
meteor  resembled  an  illuminated  cloud;  il- 
luminated, because  seen  against  the  deep 
blue  night  sky;  otherwise  it  resembled  the 
mackerel  fleeces  and  mare's  tails  of  our  sum- 
mer skies  at  home. 

"It  began  toward  the  northwestern  hori- 
zon as  an  irregular  flaring  cloud,  sometimes 
sweeping  out  into  wreaths  of  stratus;  some- 
times a  condensed  opaline  nebulosity,  rising 
in  a  zone  of  clearly-defined  whiteness,  from 
3°  to  5°  in  breadth  up  to  the  zenith,  and 
then  arching  to  the  opposite  horizon.  This 
zone  resembled  more  a  long  line  of  white 
cirro-stratus  than  the  auroral  light  of  the 
systematic  descriptions.     There  was  no  ap- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     161 

proach  to  coruscations,  or  even  rectangular 
deviations  from  the  axis  of  the  zone.  When 
it  varied  from  a  right  line,  its  curvatures 
were  waving  and  irregular,  such  as  might 
be  produced  by  wind,  but  having  no  relation 
to  the  observed  air-currents  at  the  earth's 
surface.  It  passed  from  the  due  northwest, 
between  the  Pleiades  and  the  Corona  Bore- 
alis;  the  star  of  greatest  magnitude  in  the 
latter  of  these  constellations  remaining  in 
the  centre,  although  its  waving  curves  some- 
times reached  the  Pleiades.  At  the  zenith, 
its  mean  distance  from  the  Polar  Star  was 
7°  south,  and  it  passed  down,  increasing  in 
intensity,  near  Vega,  in  Lyra,  to  the  south- 
east. 

"There  was  throughout  the  arc  no  marked 
seat  of  greatest  intensity.  Around  the  Co- 
rona of  the  north,  its  Hght  was  more  dif- 
fused. The  zone  appeared  narrowed  at  the 
zenith,  and  bright  and  clear,  without  marked 
intermission,  to  the  southeast.  The  frost- 
smoke  was  in  smoky  banks  to  the  northwest ; 
but  the  aurora  did  not  seem  to  be  affected 
by  it,  and  the  compass  remained  constant. 

"December  2.     Drifting  down  the  sound. 


162     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Every  thing  getting  ready  for  the  chance 
of  a  hurried  good-by  to  our  vessels.  Pork, 
and  sugar,  and  bread  put  up  in  small  bags 
to  fling  on  the  ice.  Every  man  his  knap- 
sack and  change  of  clothing.  Arms,  bear- 
knives,  ammunition  out  on  deck,  and  sledges 
loaded.  Yet  this  thermometer,  at  —30°, 
tells  us  to  stick  to  the  ship  while  we  can. 

"This  packing  up  of  one's  carpet-bag  in 
a  hurry  requires  a  mighty  discreet  memory. 
I  have  often  wondered  that  seamen  in  push- 
ing off  from  a  wreck  left  so  many  little 
wants  unprovided  for;  but  I  think  I  under- 
stand it  now.  After  bestowing  away  my 
boots,  with  the  rest  of  a  walking  wardrobe, 
in  a  snugly-lashed  bundle,  I  discovered  by 
accident  that  I  had  left  my  stockings  be- 
hind. 

"4  P.M.  Brooks  comes  down  while  we 
are  dining  to  say  we  are  driving  east  like 
a  race-horse,  and  a  crack  ahead:  'All  hands 
on  deck!'  We  had  heard  the  grindings 
last  night,  and  our  floe  in  the  morning  was 
cut  down  to  a  diameter  of  three  hundred 
yards :  we  had  little  to  spare  of  it.  But  the 
new   chasm   is   there,    already   fifteen    feet 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     163 

wide,  and  about  twenty-five  paces  from  our 
bows,  stretching  across  at  right  angles  with 
the  old  cleft  of  October  the  2d. 

"Our  floe,  released  from  its  more  bulky 
portion,  seems  to  be  making  rapidly  toward 
the  shore.  This,  however,  may  be  owing  to 
the  separated  mass  having  an  opposite 
motion,  for  the  darkness  is  intense.  Our 
largest  snow-house  is  carried  away;  the  dis- 
consolate little  cupola,  with  its  flag  of  red 
bunting,  should  it  survive  the  winter,  may 
puzzle  conjectures  for  our  English  brethren. 

"Mr.  Griffin  and  myself  walked  through 
the  gloom  to  the  seat  of  hummock  action 
abeam  of  the  Rescue.  A  dark,  hard  walk: 
no  changes.  The  crack,  noticed  some  time 
ago  as  parallel  to  and  alongside  of  the  Res- 
cue,  has  not  opened.  Her  officers  have 
brought  their  private  papers  on  board  the 
Advance,  and  such  indispensable  articles  as 
may  be  needed  in  case  of  her  destruction. 

"Our  ship's  head  is  toward  a  point  of 
land  to  the  northeastward,  but  her  position 
changes  so  constantly  that  there  is  little  use 
of  recording  it.  Caught  a  fox  this  morning ; 
have  now  two  on  board. 


164    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"Our  bearings,  taken  by  azimuth  com- 
pass this  morning  at  eleven,  gave  Cape 
Hurd,  S.  by  W.  i  W.;  Western  Bluff,  of 
Rigsby's  Inlet,  S.E.  ^  S.;  Table-hill  of 
Parry,  S.E.  by  S.  J  S.;  Cape  Ricketts,  E. 
byN. 

"Wind  changed  at  9  p.m.  to  N.N.W.; 
thermometer,  minimum,  —26°;  maximum, 
22°;  mean,  23°  82'. 

''December  4,  Wednesday.  This  morn- 
ing showed  us  an  interval  of  over  two  hun- 
dred yards  already  covered  with  stiff  ice: 
so  much  for  our  chasm  of  last  night!  All 
around  us  is  a  moving  wreck  of  ice-fields. 

"Our  drift  seems  to  have  been  to  the  west- 
ward. We  have  certainly  left  the  coast, 
which  yesterday  seemed  almost  over  us, 
though  it  is  still  too  near  for  good  fellow- 
ship. 

"This  is  the  first  clear  day — truly  clear, 
that  we  have  had  since  my  record  of  the 
changing  daylight.  Compared  with  the 
gloomy  haziness  of  its  predecessors,  it  was 
cheering.  The  southern  horizon  was  a  zone 
of  red  light;  and  although  the  clear  blue 
soon  absorbed  it,  we  could  read  small  print 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     165 

with  a  little  effort  at  noonday  by  turning 
the  book  to  the  south.  The  stars  were 
visible  all  the  time,  except  where  the  hori- 
zon was  lighted  up." 

The  next  four  days  were  full  of  excite- 
ment and  anxiety.  One  crack  after  another 
passed  across  our  floe,  still  reducing  its 
dimensions,  and  at  one  time  bringing  down 
our  vessel  again  to  an  even  keel.  An  horn- 
afterward,  the  chasms  would  close  around 
us  with  a  sound  like  escaping  steam. 
Again  they  would  open  under  some  myste- 
rious influence;  a  field  of  ice  from  two  to 
four  inches  thick  would  cover  them;  and 
then,  without  an  apparent  change  of  causes, 
the  separated  sides  would  come  together  with 
an  explosion  like  a  mortar,  crunching  the 
newly-formed  field,  and  driving  it  headlong 
in  fragments  for  fifty  feet  upon  the  floe 
till  it  piled  against  our  bulwarks.  Every 
thing  betokened  a  crisis.  Sledges,  boats, 
packages  of  all  sorts,  were  disposed  in  order ; 
contingencies  were  met  as  they  approached 
by  new  delegations  of  duty;  every  man  was 
at  work,  officer  and  seaman  alike;  for  neces- 
sity, when  it  spares  no  one,  is  essentially 


166    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 


democratic,  even  on  shipboard.  The  Res- 
cue, crippled  and  thrown  away  from  us  to 
the  further  side  of  a  chasm,  was  deserted, 
and  her  company  consohdated  with  ours. 
Our  own  brig  groaned  and  quivered  under 
the  pressure  against  her  sides.  I  give  my 
diary  for  December  7. 

''December    7,    Saturday.     The    danger 
which  surrounds  us  is  so  immediate,  that  in 


Dec.  6. 


Dec. 


ILLUSTRATING   THE    CHANGES   IN    THE    POSITIONS   OF   THE 
SHIPS    FROM    DAY    TO    DAY. 

the  bustle  of  preparation  for  emergency  I 
could  not  spend  a  moment  upon  my  journal. 
Now  the  little  knapsack  is  made  up  again. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     167 

and  the  blanket  sewed  and  strapped.  The 
httle  home  Bible  at  hand,  and  the  ice-clothes 
ready  for  a  jump. 

"The  above  is  a  rough  idea  of  our  last 
three  days'  positions  and  changes. 

"From  this  it  is  evident  that  a  gradual 
process  of  breaking  up  has  taken  place. 
We  are  afloat. 

"The  ice,  as  I  have  sketched  it,  December 
7,  began  to  close  at  11  a.m.,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  brig  was  driven  toward  the  open 
crack  of  December  4  (c).  At  1  p.m.  this 
closed  on  us  with  fearful  nipping. 

"1  P.M.  Ran  on  deck.  The  ice  was  com- 
paratively quiescent  when  I  attempted  to 
write;  but  it  recommenced  with  a  steady 
pressure,  which  must  soon  prove  irresistible. 
It  catches  against  a  protruding  tongue  for- 
ward, and  is  again  temporarily  arrested. 

"4  P.M.  Up  from  dinner — 'all  hands!' 
The  ice  came  in,  with  the  momentum  before 
mentioned  as  'irresistible,'  progressive  and 
grand.  All  expected  to  betake  ourselves 
sledgeless  to  the  ice,  for  the  open  space 
around  the  vessel  barely  admits  of  a  foot- 
board.    The  timbers,  and  even  cross-beams 


168     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

protected  by  shores,  vibrated  so  as  to  com- 
municate to  you  the  pecuhar  tremor  of  a 
cotton-factory.  Presently  the  stern  of  the 
brig,  by  a  succession  of  jerking  leaps,  be- 
gan to  rise,  while  her  bows  dipped  toward 
the  last  night's  ice  ahead.  Everybody 
looked  to  see  her  fall  upon  her  beam-ends, 
and  rushed  out  upon  the  ice.  After  a  few 
anxious  breath-compressed  moments,  our 
nobly-strengthened  little  craft  rose  up  upon 
the  encroaching  floes  bodily.  Her  dolphin- 
striker  struck  the  ice  ahead;  her  bows  began 
to  feel  the  pressure ;  and  thus  lifted  up  upon 
the  solid  tables,  we  have  a  temporary  respite 
again. 

"Stores  are  now  put  out  upon  the  ice,  and 
we  await — time.  Cape  Fellfoot,  S.  by  W. 
J  W.  Remarkable  perpendicular  bluff, 
S.S.E.  Cape  Hurd,  E.N.E.  |  E.,  by  com- 
pass; Cape  Hurd,  N.W.  by  W.  J  W. 
(true). 

"We  are  at  least  fifty  miles  from  Beechy 
Island  and  Union  Bay — about  forty-five 
miles  from  Leopold  Harbor  stores.  Leo- 
pold Harbor,  or  our  more  distant  English 
friends,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     169 

off,  are  our  only  places  of  refuge.  We  are 
daily,  hourly,  drifting  further  from  both. 
It  is  this  nakedness  of  resources,  even  more 
than  perpetual  darkness  and  unendurable 
cold,  that  makes  our  position  one  of  bitter- 
ness. Drift  a  little  westward ;  thermometer 
17°." 

JMy  journal  does  not  tell  the  story;  but 
it  is  worth  notipg,  as  it  illustrates  the  seda;- 
tive  effect  of  a  protracted  succession  of 
hazards.  Our  brig  had  just  mounted  the 
floe,  and  as  we  stood  on  the  ice  watching 
her  vibration,  it  seemed  so  certain  that  she 
must  come  over  on  her  beam-ends,  that  our 
old  boatswain,  Brooks,  called  out  to  "stand 
from  under."  At  this  moment  it  occurred 
to  one  of  the  officers  that  the  fires  had  not 
been  put  out,  and  that  the  stores  remaining 
on  board  would  be  burned  by  the  falling 
of  the  stoves.  Swinging  himself  back  to  the 
deck,  and  rushing  below,  he  found  two  per- 
sons in  the  cabin;  the  officer  who  had  been 
relieved  from  watch-duty  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore, quietly  seated  at  the  mess-table,  and 
the  steward  as  quietly  waiting  on  him. 
"You  are  a  meal  ahead  of  me,"  he  said; 


170     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"you  didn't  think  I  was  going  out  upon 
the  ice  without  my  dinner." 

''December  8,  Sunday,  8  p.m.  This  has 
thus  far  been  a  day  of  rest.  Our  vessel, 
lifted  up  upon  the  heavy  ice,  has  borne  with- 
out injury  a  few  fresh  pressures.  The  wind 
has  been  still  from  the  eastward,  and  we 
have  drifted  about  six  miles  to  the  west- 
ward again.  This  wind  was  almost  a  gale; 
yet  its  influence  upon  the  eastern  drift  is 
barely  able  to  produce  this  limited  westing. 
I  now  regard  it  as  past  a  doubt,  that  should 
we  survive  the  collisions  of  the  journey,  we 
must  float  into  Baffin's  Bay. 

"A  small  auroral  light  was  seen  to  the 
northwest  at  9  a.m.,  the  second  within  two 
days.  Its  axis  was  16°  W.  of  the  magnetic 
meridian.  The  mean  temj^erature  of  the 
day  has  been  —12°  70\  Wind  more  gentle 
from  the  eastward. 

"Mr.  Griffin,  who  is  now  the  executive 
officer  of  our  consolidated  squadron,  has  un- 
dertaken a  systematic  drill  of  the  crew.  He 
has  mustered  them  for  an  ice-march,  with 
knajDsacks  fitted  to  their  backs,  and  sledge 
equipments,  just  such  as  will  be  required 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     171 

wKen  the  worst  comes.  Everything  is 
rigorously  inspected;  the  provisions  and 
stores  of  all  sorts  are  packed  snug,  and  have 
their  places  marked;  and  the  men  are  in- 
structed as  to  their  course  in  the  moment  of 
emergency. 

"Here  is  a  sketch  of  the  present  position 
of  our  vessel.     It  looks  extravagant,  but  it 


is  in  truth  the  very  opposite.  Every  thing 
like  locomotion  on  board  is  up  and  down 
hill. 

''December  9,  Monday.  Like  its  three 
predecessors,  clear;  that  is  to  say,  for  three 
scanty  hours  of  scanty  twilight,  you  see  the 
skeleton  shore  cliffs,  and  the  bright  stars,  a 
little  paled,  but  bright.  The  moon,  a  sec- 
ond-quarter crescent,  was  for  a  while  on  the 
northern  and  western  horizon,  distorted  and 
flaming  like  a  crimson  lamp. 


172     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"Last  night,  mounted  as  we  are,  the  nip- 
ping caused  our  timbers  to  complain  sadly. 
We  had  to  send  out  parties  to  crow-bar 
away  the  ice  from  our  bowsprit.  The  bob- 
stays  were  forced  up  and  broken.  Our  floe 
movement  continued  to  the  southeast,  driv- 
ing the  heavy  ice  in  upon  the  Rescue.  She 
rose  up  under  the  pressure,  and  is  now  sur- 
rounded by  hummock  ruins  like  ourselves. 
She  is  not  more  than  fifty  yards  distant 
from  us,  astern." 

From  this  time  to  the  21st  our  drift  was 
without  intermission.  As  one  headland 
after  another  defined  itself  against  the  hori- 
zon, it  was  apparent  that  we  were  skirting 
the  northern  coast  of  the  sound.  At  first 
this  gave  us  some  anxiety,  when  our  floe, 
pressing  hard  against  the  shore-ice  as  we 
doubled  some  projecting  point,  threatened 
to  wreck  us  among  its  fragments.  But  as 
we  drew  nearer  to  the  outlet,  and  began  to 
compute  the  new  hazards  of  entering  Baffin's 
Bay,  this  very  circumstance  became  for  us 
an  important  ground  of  hope.  Theory,  as 
well  as  the  accounts  of  the  whalers,  made 
the  southeastern  cape  of  Lancaster  Sound 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     173 

the  seat  of  intense  hummock  action.  The 
greater  the  distance  from  that  point,  the 
broader  must  be  the  curvature  of  the  meet- 
ing currents,  and  the  less  perilous  the  con- 
flict of  the  ice-masses  in  their  rotation. 
There  was,  of  course,  no  escape  for  us  from 
this  encounter;  and  the  only  question  was 
of  the  degrees  of  hazard  it  must  involve. 

On  the  19th,  the  tall,  mural  precipices  to 
the  northward,  and  the  cape  in  which  they 
terminated  toward  the  east,  convinced  us 
that  we  had  almost  reached  the  western 
headland  of  Croker's  Bay.  We  had  drifted 
one  hundred  and  eleven  miles  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  month.  Our  course  had  been 
without  any  cheering  incident.  There  was 
the  same  wretched  succession  of  openings 
and  closings  about  our  floe,  somewhat  dan- 
gerous, but  too  uniform  to  be  exciting;  and 
we  had  drilled  with  knapsack  and  sledge, 
till  we  were  almost  martinets  in  our  evolu- 
tions on  the  ice.  I  group  the  few  entries 
of  my  journal  that  have  any  interest. 

''December  11.  Wind  last  night  fierce 
from  the  north;  to-daj^  as  fierce  from  the 
west.     It  has  carried  us  clear  of  the  great 


174     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

cape  that  stretches  out  east  of  Maxwell's 
Bay,  and  that  threatened  us  with  the  variety 
of  a  lee  shore.  The  Rescue  has  had  another 
trial:  her  stern-post  is  carried  away,  her 
pintle  and  gudgeon  wrenched  off.  A  party 
of  officers  and  men  are  out,  trying  the  ex- 
periment of  a  night  upon  the  ice,  tented  and 
bag-bedded.  I  wish  them  luck ;  but  the  ther- 
mometer fifty-seven  degrees  below  freezing 
is  unfavorable  to  a  fete  chainpetre, 

"December^  12.  Every  thing  solid,  and 
looking  as  if  it  had  always  been  so;  yet,  a 
few  days  ago,  I  had  this  journal  of  mine 
stitched  up  in  its  tarred  canvas-bag,  and 
ready  for  a  fling  upon  the  ice  four  times  in 
the  twenty-four  hours.  The  floes  have 
stopped  abrading  each  other,  and  are  driv- 
ing ahead  right  peacefully,  with  our  brig 
mounted  on  top:  how  far  we  are  from  the 
edges,  it  is  too  dark  to  see. 

"December  13.  A  little  clearer  than  yes- 
terday, but  too  dark  to  read  small  j^rint  at 
noon.  Something  like  a  long  reach  of  land 
looming  up  to  southward:  it  can  not  be 
Croker's  Bay? 

"All  our  mess  took  our  tour  of  practice 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     175 

to-day,  with  a  sledge  and  four  hundred 
pounds  of  provender.  Hard  work,  and 
sweating  abundantly;  but  we  feel  already 
the  good  effects  of  this  sort  of  exercise. 
Thermometer  at  —11°. 

"'December  14.  A  quiet  day;  the  winds 
at  rest,  and  the  stars  twinkling  through  the 
lazy  sky  as  I  never  saw  them  before.  The 
moon,  too,  is  in  high  heaven,  almost  a  three- 
quarter  disk.  She  is  a  great  comfort  to  us ; 
her  high  northern  declination  makes  her  vis- 
ible all  the  time.  It  looks  strangely  this 
undying  fortnight  moon.  The  frost-smoke 
is  wreathing  the  red  zone  of  our  southern 
horizon.  It  would  be  a  good  night-scene 
for  a  painter. 

"At  7  P.M.  the  thermometer  rose  from 
-3°  to  -1°.  At  10  o'clock  it  was  -4°. 
Its  maximum  was  +10°,  a  temperature 
mild  and  comfortable.  The  wind  changed 
from  west  by  south  to  west  by  north,  and 
the  ice  and  the  drift  are  as  yesterday. 

"A  poor  bear,  fired  at  last  night  by  Mr. 
Carter,  was  found  this  morning,  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  ship,  dead.  He 
was  wedged  between  two  slabs  of  ice,  and 


176     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

in  his  agony  had  rubbed  his  muzzle  deep  into 
the  frozen  snow.  Twice  he  had  stopped  to 
lie  down  during  his  death-walk,  marking 
each  place  with  a  large  puddle  of  blood, 
which  branched  out  over  the  floe  like  crim- 
son-streaked marble.  He  measured  eight 
feet  four  inches  from  tip  to  tip.  I  killed  a 
fox;  but  missing  his  head,  opened  the  large 
arteries  of  the  neck,  and  spoiled  his  pelt. 
The  temperature  at  the  orifice  of  the  ball 
was  -\-92°.  The  crew  were  at  work  till 
eleven,  leveling  our  rugged  floe,  and  heap- 
ing up  snow  against  the  sides  of  the  brig. 
The  position  of  our  vessel,  high  perched  in 
air,  and  dipping  head  foremost  in  a  way 
most  Arctic  and  uncomfortable,  makes  the 
protection  of  snow  very  desirable.  We  feel 
the  cold  against  her  walls.  The  crew  had 
an  hour  of  sledging,  as  well  by  way  of  exer- 
cise as  of  preparation  for  their  expected 
trials. 

"A  point  supposed  to  be  Cape  Crawfurd 
bore,  by  compass,  west.  Our  distance  from 
the  north  shore  is  about  five  miles." 


CHAPTER  X 

I  EMPLOYED  the  dreary  intervals  of 
leisure  that  heralded  our  Christmas  in 
tracing  some  Flemish  portraitures  of 
things  about  me.  The  scenes  them- 
selves had  interest  at  the  time  for  the  parties 
who  figured  in  them;  and  I  believe  that  is 
reason  enough,  according  to  the  practice  of 
modern  academics,  for  submitting  them  to 
the  public  eye.  I  copy  them  from  my  scrap- 
book,  expurgating  only  a  little. 

"We  have  almost  reached  the  solstice;  and 
things  are  so  quiet  that  I  may  as  well,  be- 
fore I  forget  it,  tell  you  something  about  the 
cold  in  its  sensible  effects,  and  the  way  in 
which  as  sensible  people  we  met  it. 

"You  will  see,  by  turning  to  the  early 
part  of  my  journal,  that  the  season  we  now 
look  back  upon  as  the  perfection  of  summer 
contrast  to  this  outrageous  winter  was  in 
fact  no  summer  at  all.  We  had  the  young 
ice  forming  round  us  in  Baffin's  Bay,  and 

177 


178     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

were  measuring  snow-falls,  while  you  were 
sweating  under  your  grass-cloth.  Yet  I  re- 
member it  as  a  time  of  sunny  recreation, 
when  we  shot  bears  upon  the  floes,  and  were 
scrambling  merrily  over  glaciers  and  mur- 
dering rotges  *  in  the  bright  glare  of  our 
daj^-midnight.  Like  a  complaining  brute,  I 
thought  it  cold  then — I,  who  am  blistered  if 
I  touch  a  brass  button  or  a  ramrod  without 
a  woolen  mit. 

"The  cold  came  u]3on  us  gradually.  The 
first  thing  that  really  struck  me  was  the 
freezing  up  of  our  water-casks,  the  drip- 
candle  appearance  of  the  bung-holes,  and 
our  inability  to  lay  the  tin  cup  down  for  a 
five-minutes'  pause  without  having  its  con- 
tents made  solid.  Next  came  the  complete 
inability  to  obtain  drink  without  manufac- 
turing it.  For  a  long  time  we  had  collected 
our  water  from  the  beautiful  fresh  pools  of 
the  icebergs  and  floes ;  now  we  had  to  quarry 
out  the  blocks  in  flinty,  glassy  lumps,  and 
then  melt  it  in  tins   for  our   daily  drink. 

"By-and-by  the  sludge  which  we  passed 
through  as  we  traveled  became  pancakes  and 

*  Little  auk.     Commonly  spelled  rotche. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     179 

snow-balls.  We  were  glued  up.  Yet,  even 
as  late  as  the  11th  of  September,  I  collected 
a  flowering  Potentilla  from  Barlow's  Inlet. 
But  now  any  thing  moist  or  wet  began  to 
strike  me  as  something  to  be  looked  at — a 
curious,  out-of-the-way  production,  like  the 
bits  of  broken  ice  round  a  can  of  mint- julep. 
Our  decks  became  dry,  and  studded  with 
botryoidal  lumps  of  dirty  foot-trodden  ice. 
The  rigging  had  nightly  accumulations  of 
rime,  and  we  learned  to  be  careful  about 
coiled  ropes  and  iron  work.  On  the  4th  of 
October  we  had  a  mean  temperature  below 
zero. 

"By  this  time  our  little  entering  hatch- 
way had  become  so  complete  a  mass  of  ici- 
cles, that  we  had  to  give  it  up,  and  resort  to 
our  winter  door-way.  The  opening  of  a 
door  was  now  the  signal  for  a  gush  of  smoke- 
like vapor:  every  stove-pipe  sent  out  clouds 
of  purple  steam ;  and  a  man's  breath  looked 
like  the  firing  of  a  pistol  on  a  small  scale. 

"All  our  eatables  became  laughably  con- 
sohdated,  and  after  different  fashions,  re- 
quiring no  small  experience  before  we 
learned  to  manage  the  peculiarities  of  their 


180     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

changed  condition.  Thus,  dried  apples  be- 
came one  solid  breccial  mass  of  impacted 
angularities,  a  conglomerate  of  sliced  chal- 
cedony. Dried  peaches  the  same.  To  get 
these  out  of  the  barrel,  or  the  barrel  out  of 
them,  was  a  matter  imjjossible.  We  found, 
after  many  trials,  that  the  shortest  and  best 
plan  was  to  cut  up  both  fruit  and  barrel 
by  repeated  blows  with  a  heavy  axe,  taking 
the  lumps  below  to  thaw.  Saur-kraut  re- 
sembled mica,  or  rather  talcose  slate.  A 
crowbar  with  chiseled  edge  extracted  the 
lamince  badly;  but  it  was  perhaps  the  best 
thing  we  could  resort  to. 

"Sugar  formed  a  very  funny  compound. 
Take  q.  s.  of  cork  raspings,  and  incorporate 
therewith  another  q.  s.  of  liquid  gutta  percha 
or  caoutchouc,  and  allow  to  harden:  this  ex- 
temporaneous formula  will  give  you  the 
brown  sugar  of  our  winter  cruise.  Extract 
with  the  saw;  nothing  but  the  saw  will  suit. 
Butter  and  lard,  less  changed,  require  a 
heavy  cold  chisel  and  mallet.  Their  frac- 
ture is  conchoidal,  with  h^ematitic  (iron-ore 
pimpled)    surface.     Flour  undergoes  little 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     181 

change,  and  molasses  can  at  —28°  be  half 
scooped,  half  cut  by  a  stiff  iron  ladle. 

"Pork  and  beef  are  rare  specimens  of 
Florentine  mosaic,  emulating  the  lost  art 
of  petrified  visceral  monstrosities  seen  at  the 
medical  schools  of  Bologna  and  Milan :  crow- 
bar and  handspike!  for  at  —30°  the  axe  can 
hardly  chip  it.  A  barrel  sawed  in  half,  and 
kept  for  two  days  in  the  caboose  house  at 
+76°,  was  still  as  refractory  as  flint  a  few 
inches  below  the  surface.  A  similar  bulk 
of  lamp  oil,  denuded  of  the  staves,  stood 
like  a  yellow  sandstone  roller  for  a  gravel 
walk. 

"Ices  for  the  dessert  come  of  course  un- 
bidden, in  all  imaginable  and  unimaginable 
variety.  I  have  tried  my  inventive  powers 
on  some  of  them.  A  Roman  punch,  a  good 
deal  stronger  than  the  noblest  Roman 
ever  tasted,  forms  readily  at  —20°.  Some 
sugared  cranberries,  with  a  little  butter  and 
scalding  water,  and  you  have  an  impromptu 
strawberry  ice.  Many  a  time  at  those 
funny  little  jams,  that  we  call  in  Philadel- 
phia 'parties,'  where  the  lady-hostess  glides 


182     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

with  such  nicely-regulated  indifference 
through  the  complex  machinery  she  has 
brought  together,  I  have  thought  I  noticed 
her  stolen  glance  of  anxiety  at  the  cooing 
doves,  whose  icy  bosoms  were  melting  into 
one  upon  the  supper-table  before  their  time. 
We  order  these  things  better  in  the  Arctic. 
Such  is  the  'composition  and  fierce  quality' 
of  our  ices,  that  they  are  brought  in  served 
on  the  shaft  of  a  hickory  broom ;  a  transfix- 
ing rod,  which  we  use  as  a  stirrer  first  and 
a  fork  afterward.  So  hard  is  this  termina- 
ting cylinder  of  ice,  that  it  might  serve  as 
a  truncheon  to  knock  down  an  ox.  The 
only  difficult}^  is  in  the  processes  that  fol- 
low. It  is  the  work  of  time  and  energy  to 
impress  it  with  the  carving-knife,  and  you 
must  handle  your  spoon  deftly,  or  it  fastens 
to  your  tongue.  One  of  our  mess  was 
tempted  the  other  day  by  the  crystal  trans- 
parency of  an  icicle  to  break  it  in  his  mouth ; 
one  piece  froze  to  his  tongue,  and  two 
others  to  his  lips,  and  each  carried  off  the 
skin:  the  thermometer  was  at  —28°. 

"Thus  much  for  our  Arctic  grub.     I  need 
not   say   that   our   preserved   meats   would 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     183 

make  very  fair  cannon-balls,  canister  shot! 

"Now  let  us  start  out  upon  a  walk,  clothed 
in  well-fashioned  Arctic  costume.  The 
thermometer  is,  say  —25°,  not  lower,  and 
the  wind  blowing  a  royal  breeze,  but  gently. 

"Close  the  Hps  the  first  minute  or  two, 
and  admit  the  air  suspiciously  through  nos- 
tril and  mustache.  Presently  you  breathe 
in  a  dry,  pungent,  but  gracious  and  agree- 
able atmosphere.  The  beard,  eyebrow,  eye- 
lashes, and  the  downy  pubescence  of  the 
ears,  acquire  a  delicate,  white,  and  perfectly- 
enveloping  cover  of  venerable  hoar-frost. 
The  mustache  and  under  lip  form  pendu- 
lous beads  of  dangling  ice.  Put  out  your 
tongue,  and  it  instantly  freezes  to  this  icy 
crusting,  and  a  rapid  effort  and  some  hand 
aid  will  be  required  to  liberate  it.  The  less 
you  talk,  the  better.  Your  chin  has  a  trick 
of  freezing  to  your  upper  j  aw  by  the  luting 
aid  of  your  beard ;  even  my  eyes  have  often 
been  so  glued,  as  to  show  that  even  a  wink 
may  be  unsafe.  As  you  walk  on,  you  find 
that  the  iron-work  of  your  gun  begins  to 
penetrate  through  two  coats  of  woolen  mit- 
tens, with  a  sensation  like  hot  water. 


18J^     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"But  we  have  been  supposing  your  back 
to  the  wind ;  and  if  you  are  a  good  Arcticized 
subject,  a  warm  glow  has  already  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  profuse  sweat.  Now  turn  about 
and  face  the  wind ;  what  a  devil  of  a  change ! 
how  the  atmospheres  are  wafted  off!  how 
penetratingly  the  cold  trickles  down  your 
neck,  and  in  at  your  j)ockets!  Whew!  a 
jack-knife,  heretofore,  like  Bob  Sawyer's 
apple,  'unpleasantly  warm'  in  the  breeches 
pocket,  has  changed  to  something  as  cold 
as  ice  and  hot  as  fire:  make  your  way  back 
to  the  ship!  I  was  once  caught  three  miles 
off  with  a  freshening  wind,  and  at  one  time 
feared  that  I  would  hardly  see  the  brig 
again.  Morton,  who  accompanied  me,  had 
his  cheeks  frozen,  and  I  felt  that  lethargic 
numbness  mentioned  in  the  story  books. 

"I  will  tell  you  what  this  feels  like,  for 
I  have  been  twice  'caught  out.'  Sleej)iness 
is  not  the  sensation.  Have  you  ever  re- 
ceived the  shocks  of  a  magneto-electric 
machine,  and  had  the  peculiar  benumbing 
sensation  of  'can't  let  go,'  extending  up  to 
your  elbow-joints?  Deprive  this  of  its 
paroxysmal  character;  subdue,  but  diffuse  it 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     185 

over  every  part  of  the  system,  and  you  have 
the  so-called  pleasurable  feelings  of  incip- 
ient freezing.  It  seems  even  to  extend  to 
your  brain.  Its  inertia  is  augmented ;  every 
thing  about  you  seems  of  a  ponderous  sort; 
and  the  whole  amount  of  pleasure  is  in  grati- 
fying the  disposition  to  remain  at  rest,  and 
spare  yourself  an  encounter  with  these 
latent  resistances.  This  is,  I  suppose,  the 
pleasurable  sleepiness  of  the  story  books. 

"I  could  fill  page  after  page  with  the 
ludicrous  miseries  of  our  ship-board  life. 
We  have  two  climates,  hj^grometrically  as 
well  as  thermometrically  at  opposite  ends  of 
the  scale.  A  pocket-handkerchief,  pocketed 
fcelow  in  the  region  of  stoves,  comes  up  un- 
changed. Go  below  again,  and  it  becomes 
moist,  flaccid,  and  almost  wet.  Go  on  deck 
again,  and  it  resembles  a  shingle  covered 
with  linen.     I  could  pick  my  teeth  with  it. 

"You  are  anxious  to  know  how  I  manage 
to  stand  this  remorseless  temperature.  It 
is  a  short  story,  and  perhaps  worth  the  tell- 
ing. 'The  Doctor'  still  retains  three  lux- 
uries, remnants  of  better  times — silk  next 
his  skin,  a  tooth-brush  for  his  teeth,  and 


186     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

white  linen  for  his  nose.  Everything  else 
is  Arctic  and  hairy — fur,  fur,  fur.  The  silk 
is  light  and  washable,  needing  neither  the 
clean  dirt  of  starch  nor  the  uncomfortable 
trouble  of  flat-irons.  It  secures  to  me  a 
clean  screen  between  my  epidermoid  and 
seal-skin  integuments. 

"I  try  to  be  a  practical  man  as  to  clothing 
and  the  et  ceteras  of  a  traveler.  All  bag- 
gage beyond  the  essential  I  regard  as  im- 
pedimenta, and  believe  in  the  wisdom  of 
Titian  Peale,  who,  when  preparing  for  an 
exploring  tour  around  the  world,  pur- 
chased— a  tin  cup.  For  the  sake  of  poor 
devils  condemned  to  cold  winters,  I  give  in 
detail  my  dress,  the  result  of  much  trial, 
and,  I  think,  nearly  perfect.  Here  it  is, 
from  tip  to  toe. 

"1.  Feet.  A  pair  of  cotton  socks  (Lisle 
thread)  covered  by  a  pair  of  ribbed  woolen 
stockings,  rising  above  the  knee  and  half 
way  up  the  thigh.  Over  these  a  pair  of 
Esquimaux  water-proof  boots,  hned  by  a 
sock  of  dog-skin,  the  hair  inside;  the  leg  of 
dressed  seal-hide;  a  sole  with  the  edges 
turned  up,  and  crimped  so  as  to  form  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     187 

water-tight  cup;  the  furred  edge  of  a  dog- 
skin sock  inserted  as  a  Hning;  and  some 
clean  straw  laid  smoothly  at  the  bottom, 
which  forms  the  elastic  cushion  on  which 
you  tread. 

"2.  Legs.  A  pair  of  coarse  woolen 
drawers,  and  a  pair  of  seal-skin  breeks  over 
them,  stitched  with  reindeer  tendon. 

"3.  Chest.  A  jumper  or  short  coat, 
double,  of  seal-skin  and  reindeer  fur.  This 
invaluable  article  I  got  at  Disco  on  my  fur 
journey,  obtaining  a  good  number  besides 
for  men  and  officers.  It  consists  of  an 
inner-hooded  shirt  of  reindeer-skin  with  the 
hair  inside,  reaching  as  far  as  the  upper 
ridge  of  the  hips,  so  as  to  allow  free  swing 
to  the  legs,  and  fitting  about  the  throat  very 
closely.  It  is  drawn  on  like  the  shirt,  and, 
except  at  the  neck,  is  perfectly  loose  and 
unbinding. 

"4.  Head.  Our  people  generally  wear 
fur  caps.  I  wear  an  ear-ridge,  a  tiara,  to 
speak  heroically,  of  wolf -skin.  Excellent  is 
this  Mormon  fur!  Leaving  the  entire  poll 
bare  to  the  elements,  it  guards  the  ears  and 
forehead  effectually:  in  any  ordinary  state 


188     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  the  wind  above  —15°,  I  am  not  troubled 
with  the  cold.  Before  I  resorted  to  this, 
my  cap  was  full  of  frozen  water,  stiff  and 
uncomfortable,  all  the  condensation  turning 
to  ice  the  moment  I  uncovered.  When  the 
weather  is  very  cold,  I  u^  hood ;  when  colder, 
say  —40°,  with  a  middling  breeze — quite 
cold  enough,  I  assure  you — I  wear  an 
elastic  silk  night-cap  in  addition,  one  of  a 
pair  forced  on  me  by  a  certain  brother  of 
mine  as  I  was  leaving  New  York,  drawn 
over  my  head  and  face,  and  lined  with  a 
mask  of  wolf-skin.  To  prevent  excessive 
condensation,  I  cut  only  two  eye-holes,  and 
leave  a  large  aperture  below  the  point  of 
the  nose  for  talking  and  breathing.  A 
grim-looking  object  is  this  wolf -skin  mask, 
its  openings  lined  with  water-proof  oiled 
silk. 

"The  only  changes  in  the  above  are  a 
pair  of  cloth  pants  for  fur,  when  the  ther- 
mometer strays  above  —15°,  and  a  pair  of 
heavy  woolen  wad-mail  leggins,  drawn  over 
my  fur  pants,  and  worn,  stocking  fashion, 
within  my  boots,  in  windy  weatlier,  when  we 
get  down  to  —30°  or  thereabouts.     A  long 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     189 

waist-scarf,  worn  like  the  kummerbund  of 
the  Hindoos,  is  a  fine  protection  while  walk- 
ing, to  keep  the  cold  from  intruding  at  the 
pockets  and  waist:  it  consummates,  as  it 
floats  martially  on  the  breeze,  the  grotesque 
harmonies  of  my  attire." 


CHAPTER  XI 

''  ^1 — ^  ECEMBER  21,  Saturday. 
I  ■  To-daj^  at  noon  we  saw,  dimly 
I  M  looming  up  from  the  redness 
of  the  southern  horizon,  a  low 
range  of  hills;  among  them  some  cones  of 
great  height,  mountains  of  a  character  dif- 
fering from  the  naked  table-lands  of  the 
northern  coast.  The  land  on  the  other  side 
of  Croker's  Bay,  with  one  high  head-land, 
supposed  to  be  Cape  Warrender,  is  in  view. 
From  all  of  which  it  is  clear  that  we  are 
drifting  regularly  on  toward  Baffin's  Bay. 

"An  opening  occurred  last  night  in  the 
ice  to  the  northward.  It  is  not  more  than 
a  hundred  yards  from  us,  and  it  is  already 
seventy  wide.  It  was  explored  for  about 
a  mile  in  a  northwest  and  southeast  course. 
Another  of  the  same  character  is  about  half 
a  mile  to  the  south  of  us. 

"Our  floe  has  now  remained  in  peace  for 

190 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     191 

nearly  three  weeks ;  and,  with  the  happy  in- 
difference of  sailors'  human  nature,  we  are 
beginning  to  forget  the  driving  ice  and  the 
groaning  pressures  which  have  perched  us 
thus  upon  a  lump  of  drift.  I  look,  however, 
to  the  spring-tides  for  a  renewal  of  the 
trouble.  The  ice  about  us  is  apparently  as 
strong  and  solid  as  the  slow  growth  of  Wel- 
lington Channel;  but  we  know  it  to  be  re- 
cent, and  less  able  to  withstand  pressure. 
Every  thing  now  depends  upon  preserving 
our  vessel  and  stores.  A  breaking  up  must 
take  place,  and  for  us  the  later  in  the  spring 
the  better.  At  the  present  rate  of  progress, 
we  shall  be  in  Baffin's  Bay  by  the  latter 
end  of  January.  There  the  daylight  will 
be  with  us  again;  most  providentially,  for 
the  icebergs  are  wi-etched  enemies  in  dark- 
ness. Thirty  more  days,  and  we  may  take 
a  noonday  walk;  forty-four,  and  the  sun 
comes  back. 

"Our  men  are  hard  at  work  preparing  for 
the  Christmas  theatre,  the  arrangements  ex- 
clusively their  own.  But  to-morrow  is  a 
day  more  welcome  than  Christmas — the 
solstitial   day   of   greatest   darkness,    from 


192     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

which  we  may  begin  to  date  our  returning 
light.  It  makes  a  man  feel  badly  to  see 
the  faces  around  him  bleaching  into  waxen 
paleness.  Until  to-day,  as  a  looking-glass 
does  not  enter  into  an  Arctic  toilet,  I  thought 
I  was  the  exception,  and  out  of  delicacy  said 
nothing  about  it  to  my  comrades.  One  of 
them,  introducing  the  toj)ic  just  now,  told 
me,  with  an  utter  unconsciousness  of  his  own 
ghostliness,  that  I  was  the  palest  of  the 
party.  So  it  is,  'All  men  think  all  men,'  &c. 
Why,  the  good  fellow  is  as  white  as  a  cut 
potato!" 

In  truth,  we  were  all  of  us  at  this  time  un- 
dergoing changes  unconsciously.  The  hazy 
obscurity  of  the  nights  we  had  gone  through 
made  them  darker  than  the  corresponding 
nights  of  Parry.  The  complexions  of  my 
comrades,  and  my  own  too,  as  I  found  soon 
afterward,  were  toned  down  to  a  peculiar 
waxy  paleness.  Our  eyes  were  more  re- 
cessed, and  strangely  clear.  Complaints  of 
shortness  of  breath  became  general.  Our 
appetite  was  almost  ludicrously  changed: 
ham-fat  frozen,  and  saur-kraut  swimming  in 
olive-oil  were  favorites;  yet  we  were  uncon- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     193 

scious  of  any  tendency  toward  the  gross  diet 
of  the  Polar  region.  Most  of  my  compan- 
ions would  not  touch  bear ;  indeed,  I  was  the 
only  one,  except  Captain  De  Haven,  that 
still  ate  it.  Fox,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a 
favorite.  Things  seemed  to  have  changed 
their  taste,  and  our  inclination  for  food  was 
at  best  very  slight. 

Worse  than  this,  our  complete  solitude, 
combined  with  permanent  darkness,  began 
to  affect  our  morale.  Men  became  moping, 
testy,  and  imaginative.  In  the  morning, 
dreams  of  the  night — we  could  not  help  using 
the  term — were  narrated.  Some  had  visited 
the  naked  shores  of  Cape  Warrender,  and 
returned  laden  with  water-melons.  Others 
had  found  Sir  John  Franklin  in  a  beautiful 
cove,  lined  by  quintas  and  orange-trees. 
Even  Brooks,  our  hard-fisted,  unimagina- 
tive boatswain,  told  me,  in  confidence,  of 
having  heard  three  strange  groans  out  upon 
the  ice.  He  "thought  it  was  a  bear,  but 
could  see  nothing!"  In  a  word,  the  health 
of  our  little  company  was  broken  in  upon. 
It  required  strenuous  and  constant  effort  at 
washing,    diet,    and    exercise    to   keep    the 


194     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

scurvy  at  bay.  Eight  cases  of  scorbutic 
gums  were  already  upon  my  black-list. 
One  severe  pneumonia  left  me  in  anxious 
doubt  as  to  its  result.  There  was,  however, 
little  bronchitis. 

''December  22,  Sunday.  The  solstice! 
— the  midnight  of  the  year!  It  commences 
with  a  new  movement  in  the  ice,  the  oj)en 
lead  of  yesterday  piling  uj)  into  hummocks 
on  our  port-beam.     No  harm  done. 

"The  wind  is  from  the  west,  increasing  in 
freshness  since  early  in  the  morning.  The 
weather  overcast ;  even  the  moon  unseen,  and 
no  indications  of  our  drift.  We  could  not 
read  print,  not  even  large  newspaper  type,  at 
noonday.  We  have  been  unable  to  leave 
the  ship  unarmed  for  some  time  on  account 
of  the  bears.  We  remember  the  story  of 
poor  Barentz,  one  of  our  early  predecessors. 
One  of  our  crew,  Blinn,  a  phlegmatic  Dutch- 
man, walked  out  to-day  toward  the  lead,  a 
few  hundred  yards  off,  in  search  of  a  seal- 
hole.  Suddenly  a  seal  rose  close  by  him  in 
the  sludge-ice :  he  raised  his  gun  to  fire ;  and, 
at  the  same  instant,  a  large  bear  jumped 
over  the  floe,  and  by  a  dive  followed  the  seal. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     195 

Blinn's  musket  snapped.  He  was  glad  to 
get  on  board  again,  and  will  remember  his 
volunteer  hunt.  Thermometer,  minimum, 
— 1 8  ° ;  m  aximum,  —  6  ° .  A  beautiful  parase- 
lene yesterday ! 

''December  23,  Monday.  Perfect  dark- 
ness! Drift  unknown.  Winds  nearly  at 
rest,  with  the  exception  of  a  little  gasp  from 
the  westward.  Thermometer  never  below 
-12°,  nor  above  -7°. 

''Deceviber  24,  Tuesday.  'Through  utter 
darkness  borne!' 

''December  25.  'Y°  Christmas  of  y' 
Arctic  cruisers!'  Our  Christmas  passed 
without  a  lack  of  the  good  things  of  this 
life.  'Goodies'  we  had  galore;  but  that  best 
of  earthly  blessings,  the  communion  of  loved 
sympathies,  these  Arctic  cruisers  had  not. 
It  was  curious  to  observe  the  depressing  in- 
fluences of  each  man's  home  thoughts,  and 
absolutely  saddening  the  effort  of  each  man 
to  impose  upon  his  neighbor  and  be  very 
boon  and  jolly.  We  joked  incessantly,  but 
badly,  and  laughed  incessantly,  but  badly 
too;  ate  of  good  things,  and  drank  up  a 
moiety  of  our  Heidsiek;  and  then  we  sang 


196     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

negro  songs,  wanting  only  tune,  measure, 
and  harmony,  but  abounding  in  noise;  and 
after  a  closing  bumper  to  Mr.  Grinnell,  ad- 
journed with  creditable  jollity  from  table 
to  the  theatre. 

"It  was  on  deck,  of  course,  but  veiled  from 
the  sky  by  our  felt  covering.  A  large  ship's 
ensign,  stretched  from  the  caboose  to  the 
bulwarks,  was  understood  to  hide  the  stage, 
and  certain  meat-casks  and  candle-boxes 
represented  the  parquet.  The  thermometer 
gave  us  —6^  at  first;  but  the  favoring  ele- 
ments soon  changed  this  to  the  more  com- 
fortable temperature  of  —4°. 

"Never  had  I  enjoj^ed  the  tawdry  quack- 
ery of  the  stage  half  so  much.  The  theatre 
has  always  been  to  me  a  wretched  simula- 
tion of  realities ;  and  I  have  too  little  sympa- 
thy with  the  unreal  to  find  pleasure  in  it 
long.  Not  so  our  Ai'ctic  theatre :  it  was  one 
continual  frolic  from  beginning  to  end. 

"The  'Blue  Devils:'  God  bless  us!  but 
it  was  very,  very  funny.  None  knew  their 
parts,  and  the  prompter  could  not  read 
glibly  enough  to  do  his  office.  Every  thing, 
whether  jocose,  or  indignant,  or  common- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     197 

place,  or  pathetic,  was  delivered  in  a  high- 
tragedy  monotone  of  despair;  five  words  at 
a  time,  or  more  or  less,  according  to  the 
facilities  of  the  prompting.  Megrim,  with 
a  pair  of  seal-skin  boots,  bestowed  his  gold 
upon  the  gentle  Annette;  and  Annette, 
nearly  six  feet  high,  received  it  with  masto- 
donic  grace.  Annette  was  an  Irishman 
named  Daly;  and  I  might  defy  hmiian  be- 
ing to  hear  her,  while  balanced  on  the  heel 
of  her  boot,  exclaim,  in  rich  masculine 
brogue,  'Och,  feather!'  without  roaring. 
Bruce  took  the  Landlord,  Benson  was 
James,  and  the  gentle  Annette  and  the 
wealthy  Megrim  were  taken  by  Messrs. 
Daly  and  Johnson. 

"After  this  followed  the  Star  Spangled 
Banner;  then  a  complicated  Marseillaise  by 
our  French  cook,  Henri ;  then  a  sailor's  horn- 
pipe by  the  diversely-talented  Bruce ;  the  or- 
chestra^— Stewart,  playing  out  the  intervals 
on  the  Jew's-harp  from  the  top  of  a  lard- 
cask.  In  fact,  we  were  very  happy  fellows. 
We  had  had  a  foot-race  in  the  morning  over 
the  midnight  ice  for  three  2:)urses  of  a  flannel 
shirt  each,  and  a  splicing  of  the  main-brace. 


198     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

The  day  was  night,  the  stars  shining  feebly 
through  the  mist. 

"But  even  here  that  kindly  custom  of 
Christmas-gifting  was  not  forgotten.  I 
found  in  my  morning  stocking  a  jack-knife, 
symbolical  of  my  altered  looks,  a  piece  of 
Castile  soap — this  last  article  in  great  re- 
quest— a  Jew's-harp,  and  a  string  of  beads! 
On  the  other  hand,  I  prescribed  from  the 
medical  stores  two  bottles  of  Cognac,  to  pro- 
tect the  mess  from  indigestion.*  So  passed 
Christmas.  Thermometer,  minimum,  —16°; 
maximum,  —7°.     Wind  west. 

''December  26,  Thursday.  To-day,  loom- 
ing up  high  in  the  air,  we  catch  a  sight  of 
new  unknown  land.  Of  our  drift,  save  by 
analogy,  we  know  nothing. 

"'December  27,  Friday.  The  shores  of 
this  coast  seem  to  have  changed  their  scale. 
At  Cape  Riley,  as  my  sketches  show,  the 
limestone  rises  in  a  mural  face,  based  by  a 
deposit  of  detritus,  which  extends  out  in 
tongues,  indentations,  and  salient  capes ;  and 

*  An  offense  which  I  thus  publicly  acknowledge  in  ad- 
vance of  the  court-martial,  to  which  this  illegal  dispensation 
of  the  public  stores  may  subject  me. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     199 

between  these,  a  cemented  shingle,  full  of 
corallines  and  encrinites,  forms  a  beach  of 
varying  extent. 

"Sometimes  this  beach  is  backed  by  rolling 
dune-like  hills  of  the  scaly  mountain  hme- 
stones;  but  after  a  mile  or  two  of  intermis- 
sion, the  high  cliffs  rise  up  again  in  abut- 
ments, and  continue  unbroken  until  another 
interval  occurs.  As  we  proceeded  east,  these 
escarped  masses  became  more  buttress-like 
and  monumental,  rising  up  into  plateau- 
topped  masses,  separated  by  chasms,  which 
seem  mere  ruptures  in  the  continuous  hill- 
line.  Now,  however,  a  trace  is  seen  in  the 
clouds  indicative  of  distant  land,  higher, 
more  mountainous,  rolling,  and  broken.  It 
may  be  the  Cunninghame  Mountains  toward 
Cape  Warrender. 

"The  wind  is  quietly  blowing  from  the 
west,  and  the  misty  haze  gives  us  barely  a 
vestige  of  daylight. 

''December  28,  Saturday.  From  my 
very  soul  do  I  rejoice  at  the  coming  sun. 
Evidences  not  to  be  mistaken  convince  me 
that  the  health  of  our  crew,  never  resting 
upon  a  very  sound  basis,  must  sink  under 


200     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  continued  influences  ^of  darkness  and 
cold.  The  temperature  and  foulness  of  air 
in  the  between-deck  Tartarus  can  not  be 
amended,  otherwise  it  would  be  my  duty  to 
urge  a  change.  Between  the  smoke  of 
lamps,  the  dry  heat  of  stoves,  and  the  fumes 
of  the  galley,  all  of  them  unintermitting, 
what  wonder  that  we  grow  feeble.  The 
short  race  of  Christmas-day  knocked  up  all 
our  officers  except  Griffin.  It  pained  me  to 
see  my  friend  Lovell,  our  strongest  man, 
fainting  with  the  exertion.  The  symptoms 
of  scurvy  among  the  crew  are  still  increas- 
ing, and  becoming  more  general.  Faces 
are  growing  pale;  strong  men  pant  for 
breath  upon  ascending  a  ladder;  and  an  in- 
dolence akin  to  apathy  seems  to  be  creeping 
over  us.  I  long  for  the  light.  Dear,  dear 
sun,  no  wonder  you  are  worshiped! 

"Our  drift  is  still  eastward,  with  a  slow 
but  unerring  progress.  The  high  land  men- 
tioned yesterday  took,  in  spite  of  the  obscur- 
ing haze,  a  distinguishable  outline.  It  is 
not  more  than  eight  miles  off,  and  so  high 
that,  with  its  retiring  flanks  on  either  side, 
it  can  be  none  other  than  the  projecting 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     201 

Cape  Warrender.  Its  structure  is  unmis- 
takably gneissoid.  We  have  now  left  the 
limestones. 

"This  cape  is  the  great  entering  landmark 
of  the  northern  shores  of  Lancaster  Sound. 
Just  one  hundred  days  ago  we  passed  it, 
urged  by  the  wings  of  the  storm ;  our  errand 
of  mercy  filling  us  with  hope,  and  the  gale 
calling  for  our  best  energies.  We  were  then 
but  a  few  hours  from  Baffin's  Bay,  and  not 
over  twenty-four  from  the  coast  of  Green- 
land. How  differently  are  we  journeying 
now! 

"The  Bay  of  Baffin,  with  its  moving  ice 
and  oj)posing  icebergs,  bathed  in  foggy 
darkness  and  destitute  of  human  fellowship 
or  habitable  asylum,  is  before  us ;  and  we,  so 
utterly  helpless,  hampered,  and  nonresistant, 
must  await  the  inevitable  action  of  the  ice. 
This  nearness  to  Cape  Warrender  makes  us 
feel  that  our  silent  marches  have  brought  us 
near  to  another  conflict. 

''December  29,  Sunday.  The  drift  shows 
an  indent  of  the  cape  now  abaft  our  beam. 
We  are  slowly  making  easting.  The  day 
is  one  of  the  same  obscure  and  dimmed  fog 


202     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

which  for  the  past  week  has  wrapped  us  in 
darkness.  The  ice  gives  no  change  as  yet: 
the  same  great  field  of  moving  whiteness. 

''December  30,  Monday.  By  a  compari- 
son of  our  several  days'  positions,  I  find 
that  from  the  18th  to  the  28th  we  have 
drifted  fifty-two  miles  and  a  half,  something 
over  five  miles  a  day.  The  winds  during 
this  period  have  been  from  the  westward, 
constant  though  gentle;  and  our  progress 
has  been  of  the  same  steady  but  gentle  sort. 
At  this  rate,  we  will  in  a  few  days  more  be 
within  the  Baffin's  Bay  incognita. 

* 'Looking  round  upon  mj^  mess-mates  with 
that  sort  of  scrutiny  that  belongs  to  my  craft 
and  my  position,  I  am  startled  at  the  traces, 
moral  and  phj^sical,  of  our  Arctic  winter  life. 
Those  who  con  it  over  theoretically  can 
hardly  realize  the  operation  of  the  host  of 
retarding  influences  that  belong  to  a  Polar 
night.  If  I  were  asked  to  place  in  fore- 
most rank  the  item  that  has  been  most  try- 
ing, it  would  be  neither  the  perpetual  cold, 
nor  the  universal  sameness,  nor  our  complete 
exclusion    from   the    active    world    of   our 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     203 

brother  men,  but  this  constant  and  oppress- 
ing gloom,  this  unvaried  darkness. 

"To-day  was  clear  toward  the  south,  so 
that  the  blessing  of  light  came  to  us  more 
largely  than  of  late.  I  walked  about  a  mile 
on  the  recent  lead,  now  frozen  to  a  level 
meandering  lane.  We  see  to  the  north  the 
Cunninghame  Mountains  of  Cape  War- 
render,  but  can  not  make  out  our  change  of 
position  definitely.  To  the  south,  an  out- 
lined ridge  of  doubtful  mountain  land  shows 
itself  high  in  the  clouds ;  probably  a  part  of 
the  high  ridges  east  of  Admiralty  Inlet. 

"The  thermometer  fell  at  eight  this  morn- 
ing to  —21°.  By  noonday  it  gave  us  —26° 
and  -27°.  It  is  now  -22°.  The  wind  is 
gentle  and  cold,  but  not  severe. 

''December  31,  Tuesday.  The  ending 
day  of  1850 !  So  clear  and  beautiful  is  this 
parting  day,  that  I  must  take  it  as  a  happy 
omen.  Pellucid  clearness,  and  a  sky  of  deep 
ultra-marine,  brought  back  the  remembrance 
of  daylight.     I  give  the  record  of  the  day. 

"9  A.M.  The  stars  visible  even  to  the 
lesser  groups;  but  a  deep  zone  of  Italian 


204     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

pink  rises  from  the  south,  and  passes  by  pris- 
matic gradations  into  the  clear  blue.  The 
outline  of  the  shore  to  the  northward  is  well 
defined. 

"10.  The  day  is  growing  into  clearness. 
The  thermometer  is  at  twenty-seven  degrees 
below  zero.  Your  lungs  tingle  pleasantly 
as  you  draw  it  in. 

"II.  Can  read  ordinary  over-sized  print. 
Started  on  a  walk,  the  first  time  for  twenty- 
odd  days.  Saw  the  great  lead,  and  traveled 
it  for  a  couple  of  miles,  expanding  into  a 
plain  of  recent  ice. 

"M.  Passed  noon  on  the  ice.  Can  read 
diamond  type.  Stars  of  the  first  magni- 
tude only  visible.     Saturn  magnificent! 

"1  P.M.  With  difficulty  read  large  type. 
The  clouds  gathering  in  black  stratus  over 
the  red  light  to  the  south. 

"2.  The  heavens  studded  with  stars  in 
their  groupings.  Night  is  again  over  every 
thing,  although  the  minor  stars  are  not  yet 
seen. 

"Since  the  first  of  this  month,  we  have 
drifted  in  solitude  one  hundred  and  seventy 
miles,  skirting  the  northern  shores  of  Lan- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     205 

caster  Sound.  Baffin's  Bay  is  ahead  of  us, 
its  current  setting  strong  toward  the  south. 
What  will  be  the  result  when  the  mighty 
masses  of  these  two  Arctic  seas  come  to- 
gether!" 


CHAPTER  XII 

1851,  January  1,  Wednesday.  The  first 
day  of  1851  set  in  cold,  the  ther- 
mometer at  —28°,  and  closing  at  —31°. 
We  celebrated  it  by  an  extra  dinner, 
a  plumcake  unfrosted  for  the  occasion,  and 
a  couple  of  our  residuary  bottles  of  wine. 
But  there  was  no  joy  in  our  merriment:  we 
were  weary  of  the  night,  as  those  who  watch 
for  the  morning. 

It  was  not  till  the  3d  that  the  red  southern 
zone  continued  long  enough  to  give  us  as- 
surance of  advancing  day.  Then,  for  at 
least  three  hours,  the  twilight  enabled  us  to 
walk  without  stumbling.  I  had  a  feeling 
of  racy  enjoyment  as  I  found  myself  once 
more  away  from  the  ship,  ranging  among  the 
floes,  and  watching  the  rivalry  of  day  with 
night  in  the  zenith.  There  was  the  surnvai-d 
horizon,  with  its  evenly-distributed  bands  of 
primitive  colors,  blending  softly  into  the 
clear  blue  overhead ;  and  then,  by  an  almost 

206 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     207 

magic  transition,  night  occupying  the  west- 
ern sky.  Stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  and 
a  wandering  planet  here  and  there,  shone 
dimly  near  the  debatable  line;  but  a  little 
further  on  were  all  the  stars  in  their  glory. 
The  northern  firmament  had  the  familiar 
beauty  of  a  pure  winter  night  at  home.  The 
Pleiades  glittered  "like  a  swarm  of  fire-flies 
tangled  in  a  silver-braid,"  and  the  great  stars 
that  hang  about  the  heads  of  Orion  and 
Taurus  were  as  intensely  bright  as  if  day  was 
not  looking  out  upon  them  from  the  other 
quarter  of  the  sky.  I  had  never  seen  night 
and  day  dividing  the  hemisphere  so  beauti- 
fully between  them. 

On  the  8th  we  had,  of  course,  our  national 
festivities,  and  remembered  freshly  the  hero 
who  consecrated  the  day  in  our  annals.  The 
evening  brought  the  theatricals  again,  with 
extempore  interludes,  and  a  hearty  splicing 
of  the  main-brace.  It  was  something  new, 
and  not  thoroughly  gladsome,  this  com- 
memoration of  the  victory  at  New  Orleans 
under  a  Polar  sky.  There  were  men  not 
two  hundred  miles  from  us,  now  our  part- 
ners in  a  nobler  contest,  who  had  bled  in  this 


208     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

very  battle.  But  we  made  the  best  of  the 
occasion ;  and  if  others  some  degrees  further 
to  the  south  celebrated  it  more  warmly,  we 
had  the  thermometer  on  our  side,  with  its 
—20°,  a  normal  temperature  for  the  "lauda- 
tur  et  alget." 

But  the  sun  was  now  gradually  coming  up 
toward  the  horizon:  every  day  at  meridian, 
and  for  an  hour  before  and  after,  we  were 
able  to  trace  our  progress  eastward  by  some 
known  headland.  We  had  passed  Cape 
Castlereagh  and  Cape  Warrender  in  succes- 
sion, and  were  close  on  the  meridian  of  Cape 
Osborn.  The  disruptions  of  the  ice  which 
we  had  encountered  so  far,  had  always  been 
at  the  periods  of  spring-tide.  The  sun  and 
moon  were  in  conjunction  on  the  21st  of  De- 
cember; and,  adopting  Captain  Parry's  ob- 
servation, that  the  greatest  efflux  was  always 
within  five  days  after  the  new  moon,  we  had 
looked  with  some  anxiety  to  the  closing 
weeks  of  that  month.  But  they  had  gone 
by  without  any  unusual  movement ;  and  there 
needed  only  an  equally  kind  visitation  of  the 
January  moon  to  give  us  our  final  struggle 
with  the  Baffin's  Bay  ice  by  daylight. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     209 

Yet  I  had  remarked  that  the  southern 
shore  of  Lancaster  Sound  extended  much 
further  out  to  the  eastward  than  the  north- 
ern did;  and  I  had  argued  that  we  might 
begin  to  feel  the  current  of  Baffin's  Bay  in 
a  very  few  days,  though  we  were  still  con- 
siderably to  the  west  of  a  line  drawn  from 
one  cape  to  the  other.  The  question  re- 
ceived its  solution  without  waiting  for  the 
moon. 

I  give  from  my  journal  our  position  in 
the  ice  on  the  11th  of  January: 

"January  11,  Saturday.  The  floe  in 
which  we  are  now  imbedded  has  been  steadily 
increasing  in  solidity  for  more  than  a  month. 
Since  the  8th  of  December,  not  a  fracture  or 
collision  has  occurred  to  mar  its  growth. 
The  eye  can  not  embrace  its  extent.  Even 
from  the  mast-head  you  look  over  an  un- 
bounded expanse  of  naked  ice,  bristling  with 
contorted  spires,  and  ridged  by  elevated  axes 
of  hummocks.  The  land  on  either  side  rises 
above  our  icy  horizon;  but  to  the  east  and 
west,  there  is  no  such  interception  to  our 
winteryness. 

"The  brig  remains  as  she  was  tossed  at 


SIO     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

our  providential  escape  of  last  month,  her 
nose  burrowing  in  the  snow,  and  her  stern 
perched  high  above  the  rubbish.  Walking 
deck  is  an  up  and  down  hill  work.  She  re- 
tains, too,  her  list  to  starboard.  Her  bare 
sides  have  been  banked  over  again  with 
snow  to  increase  the  warmth,  and  a  formida- 
ble flight  of  nine  ice-block  steps  admits  us 
to  the  door-way  of  her  winter  cover.  The 
stores,  hastily  thrown  out  from  the  vessel 
when  we  expected  her  to  go  to  pieces,  are 
still  ujion  the  little  remnant  of  old  floe  on 
our  port  or  northern  side.  The  Rescue  is 
some  hundred  yards  off  to  the  south  of  east." 
The  next  day  things  underwent  a  change. 
The  morning  was  a  misty  one,  giving  us  just 
light  enough  to  make  out  objects  that  were 
near  the  ship;  the  wind  westerly,  as  it  had 
been  for  some  time,  freshening  perhaps  to  a 
breeze.  The  day  went  on  quietly  till  noon, 
when  a  sudden  shock  brought  us  all  up  to 
the  deck.  Running  out  upon  the  ice,  we 
found  that  a  crack  had  opened  between  us 
and  the  Rescue,  and  was  extending  in  a  zig- 
zag course  from  the  northward  and  eastward 
to  the  southward  and  westward.     At  one 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     211 

o'clock  it  had  become  a  chasm  eight  feet  in 
width;  and  as  it  continued  to  widen,  we  ob- 
served a  distinct  undulation  of  the  water 
about  its  edges.  At  three,  it  had  expanded 
into  a  broad  sheet  of  water,  filmed  over  by 
young  ice,  through  which  the  portions  of 
the  floe  that  bore  our  two  vessels  began  to 
move  obliquely  toward  each  other.  Night 
closed  round  us,  with  the  chasm  reduced  to 
forty  yards  and  still  narrowing;  the  Rescue 
on  her  portbow,  two  hundred  yards  from 
her  late  position;  the  wind  increasing,  and 
the  thermometer  at  —19°. 

My  journal  for  the  next  day  was  written 
at  broken  intervals;  but  I  give  it  without 
change  of  form: 

"Jarmary  13,  4  a.m.  All  hands  have 
been  on  deck  since  one  o'clock,  strapped  and 
harnessed  for  a  farewell  march.  The  water- 
lane  of  j^esterday  is  covered  by  four-inch  ice ; 
the  floes  at  its  margin  more  than  three  feet 
thick.  These  have  been  closing  for  some 
time  by  a  sliding,  grinding  movement,  one 
upon  the  other ;  but  every  now  and  then  com- 
ing together  more  directly,  the  thinner  ice 
clattering  between  them,  and  marking  their 


212     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

new  outline  with  hummock  ridges.  They 
have  been  fairly  in  contact  for  the  last  hour: 
we  feel  their  pressure  extending  to  us 
through  the  elastic  floe  in  which  we  are 
cradled.  There  is  a  quivering,  vibratory 
hum  about  the  timbers  of  the  brig,  and  every 
now  and  then  a  harsh  rubbing  creak  along 
her  sides,  hke  waxed  cork  on  a  mahogany 
table.  The  hummocks  are  driven  to  within 
four  feet  of  our  counter,  and  stand  there 
looming  fourteen  feet  high  through  the 
darkness.  It  has  been  a  horrible  commotion 
so  far,  with  one  wild,  booming,  agonized 
note,  made  up  of  a  thousand  discords;  and 
now  comes  the  deep  stillness  after  it,  the 
mysterious  ice-pulse,  as  if  the  energies  were 
gathering  for  another  strife. 

"6 J  A.M.  Another  pulse!  the  vibration 
greater  than  we  have  ever  yet  had  it.  If  our 
little  brig  had  an  animated  centre  of  sensa- 
tion, and  some  rude  force  had  torn  a  nerve- 
trunk,  she  could  not  feel  it  more — she  fairly 
shudders.  Looking  out  to  the  north,  this 
ice  seems  to  heave  up  slowly  against  the  sky 
in  black  hills ;  and  as  we  watch  them  rolling 
toward  us,  the  hills  sink  again,  and  a  dis- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     213 

torted  j)lain  of  rubbish  melts  before  us  into 
the  night.  Ours  is  the  contrast  of  utter 
helplessness  with  illimitable  power. 

"9:50  A.M.  Brooks  and  myself  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  twilight  at  nine  o'clock  to 
cross  the  hummocky  fields  to  the  Rescue.  I 
can  not  convey  an  impression  of  the  altered 
aspects  of  the  floe.  Our  frozen  lane  has  dis- 
appeared, and  along  the  hne  of  its  recent 
course  the  ice  is  heaped  up  in  blocks,  tables, 
lumps,  powder,  and  rubbish,  often  fifteen 
feet  high.  Snow  covered  the  decks  of  the 
little  vessel,  and  the  disorder  about  it  spoke 
sadly  of  desertion.  Foot-prints  of  foxes 
were  seen  in  every  imaginable  corner;  and 
near  the  little  hatchway,  where  we  had  often 
sat  in  comfortable  good-fellowship,  the 
tracks  of  a  large  bear  had  broken  the  snow 
crust  in  his  efforts  to  get  below. 

"The  Rescue  has  met  the  pressure  upon 
her  portbow  and  fore-foot.  Her  bowsprit, 
already  maimed  by  her  adventure  off 
Griffith's  Island,  is  now  completely  forced 
up,  broken  short  off  at  the  gammoning. 
The  ice,  after  nipping  her  severely,  has  piled 
up  round  her  three  feet  above  the  bulwarks. 


214     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

We  had  looked  to  her  as  our  first  asylum  of 
retreat;  but  that  is  out  of  the  question  now; 
she  can  not  rise  as  we  have  done,  and  any 
action  that  would  peril  us  again  must  bear 
her  down  or  crush  her  laterally. 

"The  ice  immediately  about  the  Advance 
is  broken  into  small  angular  pieces,  as  if  it 
had  been  dashed  against  a  crag  of  granite. 
Our  camp  out  on  the  floe,  with  its  reserve 
of  provisions  and  a  hundred  things  besides, 
memorials  of  scenes  we  have  gone  through, 
or  api)liances  and  means  for  hazards  ahead 
of  us,  has  been  carried  away  bodily.  My 
noble  specimen  of  the  Arctic  bear  is  floating, 
with  an  escort  of  bread  barrels,  nearly  half 
a  mile  off. 

"The  thermometer  records  only  — 17° ;  but 
it  blows  at  times  so  very  fiercely  that  I  have 
never  felt  it  so  cold:  five  men  were  frost- 
bitten in  the  attempt  to  save  our  stores. 

"9  P.M.  We  have  had  no  renewal  of  the 
pressure  since  half  past  six  this  morning. 
We  are  turning  in ;  the  wind  blowing  a  fresh 
breeze,  weather  misty,  thermometer  at 
-23°." 

The  night  brought  no  further  change ;  but 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     215 

toward  morning  the  cracks,  that  formed  be- 
fore this  a  sort  of  net-work  all  about  the 
vessel,  began  to  open.  The  cause  was  not 
apparent:  the  wind  had  lulled,  and  we  saw 
no  movement  of  the  floes.  We  had  again 
the  same  voices  of  complaint  from  the  ship, 
but  they  were  much  feebler  than  yesterday; 
and  in  about  an  hour  the  ice  broke  up  all 
round  her,  leaving  an  open  space  of  about  a 
foot  to  ])ort,  indented  with  the  mould  of  her 
form.  The  brig  was  loose  once  more  at  the 
sides;  but  she  remained  suspended  by  the 
bows  and  stern  from  hummocks  built  up  like 
trestles,  and  canted  forward  still  five  feet 
and  a  quarter  out  of  level.  Every  thing 
else  was  fairly  afloat :  even  the  India-rubber 
boat,  which  during  our  troubles  had  found  a 
resting-place  on  a  sound  projection  of  the 
floe  close  by  us,  had  to  be  taken  in. 

This,  I  may  say,  was  a  fearful  position; 
but  the  thermometer,  at  a  mean  of  —23° 
and  —24°,  soon  brought  back  the  solid  char- 
acter of  our  floating  raft.  In  less  than  two 
days  every  thing  about  us  was  as  firmly  fixed 
as  ever.  But  the  whole  topography  of  the 
ice  was  changed,  and  its  new  configuration 


216     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

attested  the  violence  of  the  elements  it  had 
been  exposed  to.  Nothing  can  be  conceived 
more  completely  embodying  inhosj)itable 
desolation.  From  mast-head  the  eye  trav- 
eled wearily  over  a  broad  champaigne  of 
modulating  ice,  crowned  at  its  ridges  with 
broken  masses,  like  breakers  frozen  as  they 
rolled  toward  the  beach.  Beyond  these,  you 
lost  by  degrees  the  distinctions  of  surface. 
It  was  a  great  plain,  blotched  by  dark, 
jagged  shadows,  and  relieved  only  here  and 
there  by  a  hill  of  upheaved  rubbish.  Still 
further  in  the  distance  came  an  unvarying 
uniformity  of  shade,  cutting  with  saw- 
toothed  edge  against  a  desolate  skj^ 

Yet  there  needed  no  after-survey  of  the 
ice-field  to  prove  to  us  what  majestic  forces 
had  been  at  work  upon  it.  At  one  time  on 
the  13th,  the  hummock-ridge  astern  ad- 
vanced with  a  steady  march  upon  the  vessel. 
Twice  it  rested,  and  advanced  again — a 
dense  wall  of  ice,  thirty  feet  broad  at  the 
base  and  twelve  feet  high,  tumbhng  huge 
fragments  from  its  crest,  yet  increasing  in 
mass  at  each  new  effort.  We  had  ceased  to 
hope ;  when  a  merciful  interposition  arrested 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     217 

it,  so  close  against  our  counter  that  there  was 
scarcely  room  for  a  man  to  pass  between. 
Half  a  minute  of  progress  more,  and  it 
would  have  buried  us  all.  As  we  drifted 
along  five  months  afterward,  this  stupendous 
memento  of  controlling  power  was  still 
hanging  over  our  stern.  The  sketch  at  the 
head  of  the  next  chapter  represents  its  ap- 
pearance at  the  close  of  the  month. 


THE   ADVANCE,   FEBKUAEY,    1851. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


WE  had  lost  all  indications  of  a 
shore,  and  had  obviously  passed 
within  the  influences  of  Baffin's 
Bay.  We  were  on  the  meri- 
dian of  75° ;  yet,  though  the  recent  commo- 
tions could  be  referred  to  nothing  else  but 
the  conflict  of  the  twd  currents,  we  had  made 
very  little  southing,  if  any,  and  had  seen  no 
bergs.  But  on  the  14th  the  wind  edged 
round  a  little  more  to  the  nortliward,  and  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  15th  we 

218 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     219 

could  hear  a  squeezing  noise  among  the  ice- 
fields in  that  direction.  By  this  time  we  had 
become  learned  interpreters  of  the  ice- 
voices.  Of  course,  we  renewed  our  prepara- 
tions for  whatever  might  be  coming.  Every 
man  arranged  his  knapsack  and  blanket- 
bag  over  again  with  the  practiced  discretion 
of  an  expert.  Our  extra  clothing  sledge, 
carefully  rei)acked,  was  made  free  on  deck. 
The  India-rubber  boat,  only  useful  in  this 
solid  waste  for  crossing  occasional  chasms, 
was  launched  out  upon  the  ice  for  the  third 
time.  Our  former  depots  on  the  floe  had 
fared  so  badly  that  we  were  reluctant  to  risk 
another ;  but  our  stores  were  ready  to  be  got 
out  at  the  moment.* 

Now  began,  with  every  one  after  his  own 

*  I  have  avoided  speaking  of  my  brother  ofl&cers.  From 
myself,  a  subordinate,  only  accidentally  recording  their  ex- 
ertions, it  would  be  out  of  place;  yet  I  should  speak  the 
sentiment  of  all  on  board  were  I  to  recognize  how  much  we 
owed  to  our  executive  officer,  Mr.  Griffin.  All  our  systema- 
tized preparation  for  the  contingencies  which  threatened  us, 
the  sledges,  the  knapsacks,  the  daily  training,  and  the  pro- 
vision depots,  were  due  to  him.  Our  commander,  then  so 
ill  with  scurvy  that  we  feared  for  his  recover}*,  was  com- 
pelled to  delegate  to  his  second  in  command  many  executive 
duties  which  he  would  otherwise  have  taken  on  himself. 


220     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

fashion,  the  discussion  what  was  best  to  be 
done  in  case  of  a  wreck.  Should  we  try  our 
fortunes  for  the  while  on  board  the  Rescue? 
She  would  probably  be  the  first  to  go,  and 
could  hardly  hope  for  a  more  protracted  fate 
than  her  consort.  Or  should  we  try  for  the 
shore,  and  what  shore?  Admiralty  Inlet, 
or  Pond's  Bay,  or  the  River  Clyde?  We 
have  no  reason  to  suj^pose  the  Esquimaux 
are  accessible  on  the  coast  in  winter;  and  if 
they  are,  the}^  can  not  have  provisions  for 
such  a  hungry  re-enforcement  as  ours;  be- 
sides, the  chance  of  reaching  land  from  the 
drift-field  through  the  broken  ice  between 
them  is  slender  at  the  best  for  men  worn 
down  and  sick;  much  more  if  they  should 
attempt  to  carry  two  months'  stores  along 
with  them.  There  was  only  one  other  re- 
sort, to  camp  out  on  the  floe,  if  it  should 
kindly  offer  us  a  foothold,  and  then  move  as 
best  we  might  from  one  failing  homestead  to 
another,  like  a  band  of  Arabs  in  the  desert. 
Happily,  Captain  De  Haven  was  spared  the 
necessity  of  choosing  between  the  alterna- 
tives :  the  ice-storm  did  not  reach  us. 

''January  15.     The  moon  is  now  nearly 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     221 

fuU.  Her  light  mingles  so  with  the  twilight 
of  the  sun  that  the  stars  are  quite  sobered 
down.  Walking  out  at  4  p.m.,  with  the 
thermometer  at  —24°,  to  find,  if  I  could,  the 
cause  of  a  sound  a  good  deal  like  that  of  the 
surf,  I  was  startled  by  a  noise  like  a  quarry 
blast,  explosive  and  momentary,  followed 
by  a  clatter  like  broken  glass.  Some  ten 
minutes  afterward,  it  was  repeated,  and  a 
dark  smoke-like  vapor  rose  up  in  the  moon- 
light from  the  same  quarter.  These  things 
keep  us  on  the  qui  vive. 

''January  16.  In  the  course  of  a  tramp 
to-day  about  noon,  the  thermometer  stand- 
ing at  —18°,  I  came  across  a  wonderful  in- 
stance of  the  yielding  elasticity  of  ice  under 
intense  pressure.  About  two  hundred  yards 
from  the  brig,  on  her  starboard  quarter, 
was  an  unbroken  plain  of  level  ice,  which  be- 
fore our  recent  break-up  used  to  form  one  of 
my  daily  walks.  It  measured  one  hundred 
and  thirtj^  paces  in  its  longer  diameter  and 
eighty-five  in  its  shorter,  and  its  thickness  I 
ascertained  this  morning  was  over  five  feet. 
I  found  in  crossing  it  to-day  that  the  surface 
presented  a  uniform  curve,  a  segment  whose 


222     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

versed  sine  could  not  have  been  less  than 
eight  feet,  abutted  on  each  side  by  a  barri- 
cade of  rubbish.  It  strikes  me  that  the  de- 
hiscence, lady's  slipper  or  Rupert's  drop 
fashion,  of  such  tensely-compressed  floes, 
must  be  the  cause  of  the  loud  explosions  we 
have  heard  lately.  At  —30°  or  —40°  the 
ice  is  as  friable  and  brittle  as  glass  itself ;  be- 
sides, one  of  those  yesterday  was  followed  by 
a  ringing  clatter. 

"January  18.  The  extreme  stillness,  and 
the  facihty  with  which  sound  travels  over 
these  Polar  ice-plains,  make  us  err  a  good 
deal  in  our  estimates  of  distance  at  night.  I 
went  out  to-day  with  Dr.  Vreeland  in  search 
of  a  violent  disruption  of  the  ice,  which  our 
look-outs  declared  they  had  heard  at  the 
very  side  of  the  brig.  We  had  some  diffi- 
culty in  finding  it:  it  was  the  closing  of  a 
fissure  considerably  more  than  half  a  mile 
off. 

"As  we  were  returning  we  noticed  some 
additional  results  of  the  ice  action  of  the 
13th.  Among  them  was  a  table  of  ice,  four 
feet  thick,  eighteen  long,  and  fifteen  broad, 
so  curved  without  destroying  its  integrity  as 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     223 

to  form  a  well-arched  bridge  across  a  water 
chasm.  It  had  evidently  reared  up  high  in 
air,  and  then,  topphng  over,  bent  into  its 
present  form — a  marked  instance  of  the 
semi-solid  or  viscous  character  which  forms 


m 

■^ 


AN    ICE-BRIDGE    FORMED    BY    PRESSURE. 

the  basis  of  Professor  Forbes's  glacial 
theory.  It  is  not,  however,  the  first  extreme 
change  of  form  that  I  have  noticed  in  ap- 
parently matured  ice  at  a  low  temperature: 
its  plasticity  at  +32°  must  be  much  greater. 
"Observations  by  meridian  altitudes  of 
Saturn  and  Aldebaran  give  us  to-day  a  lati- 
tude of  73°  47'  north.  Yesterday  we  were 
at  73°  5\  This  progress  to  the  south  is 
shown  also  by  the  bearing  of  the  Walter 
Bathurst    coast    in    the    neighborhood    of 


224     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Possession  Bay.  We  are  fully  inside  of 
Baffin's  Bay,  and  with  the  wind  at  north- 
west. There  are  some  signs  of  ice  trouble 
ahead;  a  crack  has  been  gradually  opening 
toward  our  quarter,  and  has  got  within  eight 
hundred  yards  of  us." 

The  day  after  this  the  crack  approached 
us  till  it  was  only  about  three  hundred  yards 
off,  and  then  began  closing  again,  with  the 
usual  accompanying  phenomena.  The  ice 
between  it  and  us  was  apparently  quiescent; 
but  our  ship  quivered  and  jumped  under  the 
transmitted  pressure.  Soon  after,  in  the 
midst  of  a  heavy  snow-drift,  and  with  a  tem- 
perature of  —30°,  another  crack  showed  it- 
self close  upon  our  cut-water.  The  shocks 
which  reached  us  during  these  commotions 
are  noted  in  the  log-book  as  "apparently  lift- 
ing the  vessel  aft:"  the  feehng  was,  indeed, 
not  unlike  that  which  has  been  observed  dur- 
ing an  earthquake,  immediately  before  and 
sometimes  during  a  vibration. 

"January  20.  The  ice  sounded  last  night 
like  some  one  hammering  a  nail  against  the 
ship's  side,  clicking  at  regular  intervals. 
Another  crack  on  the  other  side  of  the  Res- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     225 

cuCj  now  showing  open  water,  was  perhaps 
the  cause. 

"We  ah-eady  begin  to  experience  the 
change  in  our  axis  of  drift.  The  changes 
of  the  wind  and  the  currents  of  Baffin's  Bay 
have  impressed  the  great  system  which  sur- 
rounds us  with  a  marked  progress  to  the 
south. 

"Throughout  last  night,  and  until  nine 
o'clock  this  morning,  a  column  of  illumina- 
tion depended  from  the  moon.  Viewing  it 
obliquely,  its  penciled  raj^s  could  be  seen 
reaching  nearly  to  the  horizon;  while  in  its 
direct  aspect  a  manifest  but  intermitting  in- 
terval was  apparent.  It  struck  me  as  an 
illustration,  perhaps,  of  Sir  John  Herschell's 
remark  when  observing  the  Pleiades,  that  the 
centre  of  the  retina  is  not  the  seat  of  gi'cat- 
est  sensibility. 

"Our  snow-water  has  been  infected  for  the 
past  month  by  a  very  perceptible  flavor  and 
odor  of  musk,  to  such  a  degree  sometimes 
that  we  could  hardly  drink  it.  After  many 
attempts  to  find  out  its  cause,  and  at  least 
as  many  philosophical  disquisitions  to  ac- 
count for  it  without  one,  I  accidentally  saw 


226     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

to-day  a  group  of  foxes  on  the  floes  about 
our  brig,  who  resoked  our  doubts  by  an  il- 
lustration altogether  sim^Dle  and  natural. 

"January  22.  On  reaching  the  deck  at 
half  past  eight  this  morning,  after  my  usual 
sleepless  night  in  the  murky  den  below,  I 
found  the  horizon  free  from  cloud  stratus, 
and  the  feeble  foreshadowings  of  day  bath- 
ing the  snow  with  a  neutral  tint.  By  nine 
we  could  see  to  walk;  and  as  late  as  five  in 
the  afternoon,  the  refracted  twilights  hung 
about  the  western  sky.  How  delicious  is 
this  sensation  of  coming  day!  In  less  than 
a  fortnight  the  great  planet  will  be  hfted  by 
the  bountiful  refraction  of  the  Arctic  circle 
into  clear  eye  presence. 

"I  long  for  day.  The  anomalous  host  of 
evils  which  hang  about  this  vegetation  in 
darkness  are  showing  themselves  in  all  their 
forms.  ]My  scurvy  patients,  those  I  mean 
on  the  sick-list,  with  all  the  care  that  it  is 
possible  to  give  them,  are  perhaps  no  worse ; 
but  pains  in  the  joints,  rheumatisms,  coughs, 
loss  of  appetite,  and  general  debility,  extend 
over  the  whole  company.  Fifteen  pounds 
of  food  per  diem  are  consumed  reluctantly 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     227 

now,  where  thirty-two  were  taken  with  ap- 
petite on  the  20th  of  October.  We  are  a 
ghastly  set  of  pale  faces,  and  none  paler 
than  myself.  I  find  it  a  labor  to  carry  my 
carbine.  My  fingers  cling  together  in  an 
ill-adjusted  lolexus,  like  the  toes  in  a  tight 
boot,  and  my  long  beard  is  becoming  as 
rough  and  rugged  as  Humphrey  of  Glos- 
ter's  in  the  play. 

"12  M.  The  thermometer  keeps  steadily 
at  —20°,  but  to-day  is  the  coldest  I  have  ever 
felt.  It  blows  a  j'oung  gale.  Brooks  and 
myself  have  been  flying  kites.  The  wind 
was  like  prickling  needles,  and  the  snow 
smoked  over  the  moving  drifts. 

"I  am  struck  more  and  more  with  the  evi- 
dences of  gigantic  force  in  the  phases  of  our 
frozen  ijedragal.  Returning  from  a  chase 
after  an  imaginary  bear,  we  came  across, 
yesterday,  a  suspended  hummock,  so  impos- 
ing in  its  form,  that,  half  frozen  as  we  were, 
we  stopped  to  measure  it.  It  was  a  single 
table  of  massive  ice,  supported  upon  a  pile 
of  rubbish,  and  inclined  about  15°  to  the 
horizon.  Its  length  was  ninety-one  feet  six 
inches,   its  breadth  fifty-one   feet,   and  its 


^28     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

average  solid  thickness  eight  feet.  At  its 
lower  end  it  was  seven  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  adjacent  floe;  at  its  upper,  twenty-seven. 
The  weight  of  such  a  mass,  allowing  113 
lbs.  to  the  cubic  foot,  would  be  1883  tons.  I 
almost  begin  to  reahze  Baron  Wrangell's 
account  of  the  hummocks  on  the  coast  of 
Siberia.  We  have  here,  perhaps,  some  five 
hundred  fathoms  of  water :  the  six,  or  twelve, 
or  twentj^  fathoms  of  slimj^  mud,  that  he 
speaks  of  as  forming  the  inchned  plane  of 
the  shore,  must  facilitate  very  much  the  up- 
heaval of  ice-tables. 

"10  P.M.  The  wind  has  freshened  to  a 
gale  of  the  first  order,  and  it  howls  outside 
like  the  dog-chorus  of  outer  Constanti- 
nople. But  cheerless  as  these  heavy  winds 
are  in  all  out-of-the-way,  undefended  places, 
it  is  only  when  they  announce  or  accompany 
a  change  of  direction  that  we  fear  them.  So 
stable  and  so  elastic  withal  is  the  cementing 
effect  of  the  cold  here,  that  the  strongest 
gales  do  not  break  up  the  ice  after  it  has 
been  once  set  in  the  line  of  the  wind.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  trifling  breeze,  if  it  deviates  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     229 

very  few  points  from  the  axis  of  the  last  set, 
puts  every  thing  into  commotion. 

"January  23.  The  gale  of  last  night  sub- 
sided into  the  usual  quiet  but  fresh  westerly 
breeze,  sometimes  inclining  to  the  W.N.W. 
To-day  is  very  clear ;  the  stars,  except  one  or 
two  of  the  northern  magnates,  invisible  at 
noonday;  and  two  or  three  well-marked 
crimson  lines  streaking  the  dawning  zone 
above  the  sun.  The  hills  around  Walter 
Bathurst  and  Possession  Bay,  the  entering 
southern  headlands  of  Lancaster  Sound, 
have  sunk  in  the  distance.  Two  summits, 
bearing  southwest  by  west,  probably  belong- 
ing to  Possession  Mount,  are  all  that  re- 
mains of  the  coast.  We  are  more  than  fifty 
miles  from  land,  and  still  drifting  rapidly  to 
the  east.  To  the  southwest,  by  compass 
(true  S.E.  J  E.),  little  volumes  of  smoke 
have  been  rising;  but  after  a  tolerably  long 
walk,  I  could  not  find  any  further  signs  of 
the  open  water.  We  are  now  in  latitude 
73°  10^ 

"The  daylight  is  very  sensibly  longer:  the 
moon  was  quite  joyous  with  its  little  crim- 


^30     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

son  flocculi ;  and  five,  or  even  five  and  a  half 
hours  afterward,  when  we  looked  toward  the 
day  quarter,  instead  of  a  grim  blackness,  or, 
as  we  had  it  more  recently,  a  stain  of  Indian- 
red,  we  saw  the  pale  bluish  light,  so  grate- 
fully familiar  at  home." 

The  appearances  which  heralded  the  sun  s 
return  had  a  degree  of  interest  for  us  which 
it  is  not  easy  to  express  in  words.  I  have 
referred  more  than  once  already  to  the  ef- 
fects of  the  long-continued  night  on  the 
health  of  our  crowded  ship's  company.  It 
was  even  more  painful  to  notice  its  influence 
on  their  temper  and  spirits.  Among  the 
officers  this  was  less  observable.  Our  mess 
seemed  determined,  come  what  might,  to 
maintain  toward  each  other  that  honest 
courtesy  of  manner,  which  those  who  have 
sailed  on  long  voyages  together  know  to  be 
the  rarest  and  most  difficult  proof  of  mutual 
respect.  There  were  of  course  seasons  when 
each  had  his  home  thoughts,  and  revolved 
perhaps  the  growing  probabihties  that  some 
other  Arctic  search  party  might  seek  in  vain 
hereafter  for  a  memorial  of  our  own;  yet 
these  were  never  topics  of  conversation.     I 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     231 

do  not  remember  to  have  been  saddened  by 
a  boding  word  during  all  the  trials  of  our 
cruise. 

With  the  men,  however,  it  was  different. 
More  deficient  in  the  resources  of  education, 
and  less  restrained  by  conventional  usages 
or  the  principle  of  honor  from  communicat- 
ing to  each  other  what  they  felt,  all  sym- 
pathized in  the  imaginary  terrors  which 
each  one  conjured  up.  The  wild  voices  of 
the  ice  and  wind,  the  strange  sounds  that 
issued  from  the  ship,  the  hummocks  burst- 
ing up  without  an  apparent  cause  through 
the  darkness,  the  cracks  and  the  dark  rush- 
ing water  that  filled  them,  the  distorted  won- 
der-workings of  refraction;  in  a  word,  all 
that  could  stimulate,  or  sicken,  or  oppress 
the  fancy,  was  a  day  and  nightmare  dream 
for  the  forecastle. 

We  were  called  up  one  evening  by  the 
deck-watch  to  see  for  ourselves  a  "ball  of 
fire  floating  up  and  down  above  the  ice- 
field." It  was  there  sure  enough,  a  disk  of 
reddish  flame,  varying  a  little  in  its  out- 
line, and  flickering  in  the  horizon  like  a  re- 
volving light  at  a  distance.     I  was  at  first 


232     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

as  much  puzzled  as  the  men ;  but  glancing  at 
Orion,  I  soon  saw  that  it  was  nothing  else 
than  our  old  dog-star  friend,  bright  Sirius, 
come  back  to  us.  Refraction  had  raised 
him  above  the  hills,  so  as  to  bring  him  to 
view  a  little  sooner  than  we  expected.  His 
color  was  rather  more  lurid  than  when  he 
left  us,  and  the  refraction,  besides  distorting 
his  outline,  seemed  to  have  given  him  the 
same  oblateness  or  horizontal  expansion 
which  we  observe  in  the  disks  of  the  larger 
planets  when  nearing  the  horizon. 

For  some  days  the  sun-clouds  at  the  south 
had  been  changing  their  character.  Their 
edges  became  better  defined,  their  extremi- 
ties dentated,  their  color  deeper  as  well  as 
warmer;  and  from  the  spaces  between  the 
lines  of  stratus  burst  out  a  blaze  of  glory, 
typical  of  the  longed-for  sun.  He  came  at 
last:  it  was  on  the  29th.  My  journal  must 
tell  the  story  of  his  welcoming,  at  the  hazard 
of  its  seeming  extravagance:  I  am  content 
that  they  shall  criticise  it  who  have  drifted 
for  more  than  twelve  weeks  under  the  night 
of  a  Polar  sky. 

"January    29.     Going    on    deck    after 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     233 

breakfast  at  eight  this  morning,  I  found  the 
dawning  far  advanced.  The  whole  vault 
was  bedewed  with  the  coming  day;  and,  ex- 
cept Capella,  the  stars  were  gone.  The 
southern  horizon  was  clear.  We  were  cer- 
tain to  see  the  sun,  after  an  absence  of 
eighty-six  days.  It  had  been  arranged  on 
board  that  all  hands  should  give  him  three 
cheers  for  a  gi-eeting;  but  I  was  in  no  mood 
to  join  the  sallow-visaged  party.  I  took 
my  gun,  and  walked  over  the  ice  about  a 
mile  away  from  the  ship  to  a  solitary  spot, 
where  a  great  big  hummock  almost  hemmed 
me  in,  opening  only  to  the  south.  There, 
Parsee  fashion,  I  drank  in  the  rosy  light, 
and  watched  the  horns  of  the  crescent  ex- 
tending themselves  round  toward  the  north. 
There  was  hardly  a  breath  of  wind,  with 
the  thermometer  at  only  —19°,  and  it  was 
easy,  therefore,  to  keep  warm  by  walking 
gently  up  and  down.  I  thought  over  and 
named  aloud  every  one  of  our  little  circle, 
F.  and  M.,  T.  and  P.,  B.  and  J.,  and  our 
dear,  bright  little  W.;  wondered  a  while 
whether  there  were  not  some  more  to  be  re- 
membered, and  called  up  one  friend  or  rela- 


23J^     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

tive  after  another,  but  always  came  back  to 
the  circle  I  began  with.  My  thoughts  were 
torpid,  not  worth  the  writing  down;  but  I 
was  not  strong,  and  they  affected  me.  It 
was  not  good  'Polar  practice.' 

"Very  soon  the  deep  crimson  blush, 
lightening  into  a  focus  of  incandescent  white, 
showed  me  that  the  hour  Avas  close  at  hand. 
Mounting  upon  a  crag,  I  saw  the  crews  of 
our  one  ship  formed  in  line  upon  the  ice. 
My  mind  was  still  tracing  the  familiar  chain 
of  home  affections,  and  the  chances  that  this 
one  or  the  other  of  its  links  might  be  broken 
already.  I  bethought  me  of  the  Sortes 
Virgilianee  of  my  school-boy  days:  I  took 
a  piece  of  candle  paper  pasteboard,  cut  it 
with  my  bowie-knife  into  a  little  carbine 
target,  and  on  one  side  of  this  marked  all  our 
names  in  pencil,  and  on  the  other  a  little  star. 
Presently  the  sun  came :  never,  till  the  grave- 
sod  or  the  ice  covers  me,  may  I  forego  this 
blessing  of  blessings  again!  I  looked  at 
him  thankfully  with  a  great  globus  in  my 
throat.  Then  came  the  shout  from  the  shii? 
— three  shouts — cheering  the  sun.  I  fixed 
my   little    star-target   to   the   floe,   walked 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     235 

backward  till  it  became  nearly  invisible ;  and 
then,  just  as  the  completed  orb  fluttered 
upon  the  horizon,  fii'ed  my  'salutf  I  cut 
JM  in  half,  and  knocked  the  T  out  of  Tom. 
They  shall  di'aw  lots  for  it  if  ever  I  get 
home ;  for  many,  many  years  may  come  and 
go  again  before  the  shot  of  an  American  rifle 
signalizes  in  the  winter  of  Baffin's  Bay  the 
conjunction  of  sunrise,  noonday,  and  sunset. 

"The  first  indications  of  dawn  to-day  were 
at  forty-five  minutes  past  five.  By  seven 
the  twihght  was  nearly  sufficient  to  guide  a 
walking  party  over  the  floes.  I  have  de- 
scribed the  phenomena  at  eight.  At  nine 
the  deck-lantern  was  doused.  By  llh.  14m. 
or  15m.  those  on  board  had  the  first  glimpses 
of  the  sun.  At  5  p.m.  we  had  the  dim  twi- 
light of  evening. 

"Our  thermometric  records  on  board  ship 
can  not  be  relied  on.  I  mention  the  fact  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  may  hereafter  con- 
sult them.  My  wooden-cased  Pike  ther- 
mometer, hung  to  a  stanchion  on  the  north- 
ern beam  of  the  brig,  gave  at  noonday  — 19° ; 
exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  on  the  southern, 
—14-°.     The  observation  repeated  at   12h. 


236     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

30m.,  gave  —20°  for  the  northern,  and  —15° 
for  the  southern  side;  the  difference  in  each 
case  being  five  degrees.  The  same  ther- 
mometer, carefully  exposed  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  ship,  gave  at  noon,  on  the 
north  and  windward  side,  —21°;  on  the 
south,  exposed  to  the  sun,  —18°;  and  at 
thirty  minutes  afterward  (nearly),  on  the 
north,  -20°  5';  toward  the  sun,  -16°.  The 
difference  in  these  last  observations  of  3°  in 
the  first  and  4°  5'  in  the  second  was  owing 
unmistakably  to  the  effect  of  the  solar  rays. 
The  ship's  record  for  the  same  hours  was 
simply  -19°  and  -18°.  The  fact  is,  that 
there  is  always  a  varying  difference  of  two 
to  five  degi^ees  of  temperature  between  the 
lee  and  weather  sides  of  the  brig;  the  quarter 
of  the  wind  and  its  intensity,  the  state  of  our 
fires,  the  open  or  shut  hatches,  and  other 
minor  circumstances,  determining  what  the 
difference  shall  be  at  a  particular  time. 

"January  30.  The  crew  determined  to 
celebrate  'El  regi-esado  del  sol,'  which,  ac- 
cording to  old  Costa,  our  Mahonese  seaman, 
was  a  more  holy  day  than  Christmas  or  All- 
Saints.     Mr.  Bruce,  the  diversely  talented, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     237 

favored  us  with  a  new  line  of  theatrical  ex- 
hibition, a  divertissemefit  of  domestic  com- 
position, 'The  Countryman's  first  Visit  to 
Town;'  followed  by  a  pantomime.  I  copy 
the  play-bill  from  the  original  as  it  was 
tacked  against  the  main-mast: 

ARCTIC  THEATRE 

To  be  performed^  on  the  night  of  Thursday,  the 
30th  day  of  January,  the  Comic  Play  of  the  Country- 
man.    After  which,  a  Pantomime. 

To  begin  with 
A  Song By  R.  Bruce. 

THE  COUNTRYMAN. 

Countryman R.  Baggs. 

Landlady C.  Berry. 

Servant   T.  Dunning, 

PANTOMIME. 

Harlequin    James  Johnson. 

Old  Man R.  Bruce. 

Rejected  Lover A.  Canot. 

Columbine    James  Smith. 

Doors  to  be  opened  at  8  o'clock.  Curtain  to  rise  a  quarter 
past  8  punctually. 

No  admittance  to  Children;  and  no  Ladies  admitted  with- 
out an  escort. 

Stage  Manager, 

S.  BENJAMIN. 

The  strictest  order  will  be  observed  both  inside  and  outside. 


238     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

We  sat  down  as  usual  on  the  preserved- 
meat  boxes,  which  were  placed  on  deck, 
ready  strapped  and  becketed  (nautice  for 
trunk-handled)  for  flinging  out  upon  the 
ice.  The  affair  was  altogether  creditable, 
however,  and  everybody  enjoyed  it.  Here 
is  an  outline  of  the  pantomime,  after  the 
manner  of  the  newspapers.  An  old  man 
(Mr.  Bruce)  possessed  mysterious,  semi- 
magical,  and  wholly  comical  influence  over 
a  rejected  lover  (M.  Auguste  Canot,  ship's 
cook),  and  Columbine  (Mr.  Smith)  exer- 
cised the  same  over  the  old  man.  Harlequin 
(Mr.  Johnson),  however,  by  the  aid  of  a 
split-shingle  w^and  and  the  charms  of  his 
"motley  wear,"  secures  the  affections  of 
Columbine,  cajoles  the  old  man,  persecutes 
the  forlorn  lover,  and  carries  off  the  prize 
of  love;  the  fair  Columbine,  who  had  been 
industriously  chewing  tobacco,  and  twirling 
on  the  heel  of  her  boot  to  keep  herself  warm, 
giving  him  a  sentimental  kiss  as  she  left  the 
stage.  A  still  more  sentimental  song,  sung 
in  seal-skin  breeks  and  a  ''norivester,"  and  a 
potation  all  round  of  hot-spiced  rum  toddy, 
concluded  the  entertainments. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ON  the  2d  of  February  the  sun  rose 
up  in  full  disk  at  a  quarter  be- 
fore eleven.  The  atmosphere  was 
clear,  but  filled  with  minute 
spiculae.  The  cold  was  becoming  more  in- 
tense: our  ship  thermometers  stood  at  —32°, 
my  spirit  standard  at  —34°,  and  my  mer- 
curial at  —38°.  The  ice  that  had  formed 
between  the  floes  since  our  break-up  of 
January  12th  was  already  twenty-seven 
inches  thick,  and  was  increasing  at  the  rate 
of  five  inches  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  The 
floes  crackled  under  the  intense  frost,  and 
we  heard  loud  explosions  around  us,  which 
one  of  our  seamen,  who  had  seen  land  serv- 
ice in  Mexico,  compared  very  aptly  to  the 
sound  of  a  musket  fired  in  an  empty  town. 
The  6th  was  still  colder.  At  seven  in  the 
evening  my  spirit  standard  was  at  —40°. 
The  day,  however,  had  been  graced  with 
some  hours  of  sunshine,  and  we  worked  and 

239 


240     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

played  football  out  on  the  ice  till  we  were 
many  of  us  in  a  profuse  perspiration.  The 
next  morning  my  mercurial  thermometer 
had  frozen,  leaving  its  parting  record  at 
— 42° ;  and  at  half  j)ast  eight  one  of  the  spirit 
standards  indicated  the  same  point.  Up  to 
this  period,  it  was  our  lowest  temperature. 
The  frozen  mercury  resembled  in  appear- 
ance lead,  recently  chilled  after  melting. 
You  could  cut  the  thinner  edges  easily 
enough  with  a  penknife;  but  where  it  was 
heaped  up,  nearer  the  centre  of  the  solid 
mass,  it  was  tenacious  and  resisting.  I 
wished  to  examine  it  under  the  microscope, 
but  was  unable  to  procure  a  fractured  sur- 
face. 

Between  six  and  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  of  the  2d,  we  had  a  magnificent 
though  nearly  colorless  exhibition  of  the 
aurora;  and  on  the  7th,  at  lOh.  20m.  a.m., 
the  southern  sky  presented  the  appearance 
of  a  day  aurora  attending  on  the  sun.  The 
observations  which  I  made  of  these  two 
phenomena  may  be  the  subject  of  a  distinct 
chapter;  I  will  only  say  here,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  doubt  their  identity  of  character 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     241 

or  cause.  We  had  several  displays  of  the 
paraselene,  too,  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
month,  and  an  almost  constant  deposition  of 
crystalhne  specks,  which  covered  our  decks 
with  a  sort  of  hoar-frost.  The  rate  of  this 
deposition  on  the  vessel  was  about  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  six  hours;  but  in  an  ice-basin 
on  the  floes,  surrounded  by  hmiimocks,  and 
thus  protected  from  the  wind,  I  found  it 
nine  inches  deep. 

When  accumulated  in  this  manner,  it 
might,  on  a  hurried  inspection,  be  con- 
founded with  snow;  but  it  differs  as  the  dew 
does  from  rain.  It  is  directly  connected 
with  radiation,  and  is  most  copious  under  a 
clear  sky.  Snow  itself,  the  flaky  snow  of  a 
clouded  atmosphere,  has  not  been  noticed  by 
us  when  the  temperature  was  lower  than 
-8°  or  at  most  -10°.  Our  last  snow-fall 
was  on  the  1st  of  February  and  the  day  pre- 
ceding. It  began  with  the  thermometer  at 
— 1°,  and  continued  after  it  had  sunk  to 
— 9° ;  but  it  had  ceased  some  time  before  it 
reached  —13°. 

''February  9.  To-day  we  had  a  sky  of 
serene  purity,  and  all  hands  went  out  for  a 


^42     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

sanitary  game  of  romps  in  the  cold  light. 
Presently  three  suns  came  to  greet  us — 
strange  Ai'ctic  parhelia — and  a  great  golden 
cross  of  yellow  brightness  uniting  them  in 
one  system.  Under  the  glare  of  these  we 
played  foot-ball. 

"At  meridian  we  made  a  rough  horizon  of 
the  ice,  and  found  ourselves  in  latitude  about 
72°  16'.  At  this  time  another  marvel  rose 
before  us — Land.  The  monster  was  to  the 
W.S.W.,  in  the  shape  of  two  round-topped 
hills,  lifted  up  for  the  time  into  our  field  of 
view.  An  hour  or  two  later,  while  the  day 
was  waning,  these  hills  became  mountains, 
and  then  a  line  of  truncated  cones,  the 
spectre  of  some  distant  coast.  Looking  a 
few  minutes  later  out  of  the  little  door  in  our 
felt  house,  the  port  gangway  of  the  log- 
book, to  where  for  this  last  fortnight  a  bleak 
sameness  of  snow  has  been  stretching  to  the 
far  north,  we  saw  a  couple  of  icebergs  stand- 
ing alone  in  the  sky,  and  at  their  shadowy 
tops  their  phantom  repetitions  inverted. 
By  this  time  the  mountains  also  had  become 
twain,  and  the  long  line  of  resurrected  coast 
was  duplicated  in  the  clouds.     A  stratum  of 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     243 

false  horizon  separated  the  two  sets  of  im- 
ages. 

"We  have  been  now  for  many  months 
without  seeing  the  icebergs.  They  were 
beautiful  objects,  monuments  of  power, 
when  we  met  them  on  the  coast  of  Green- 
land, floating  along  on  a  liquid  sea.  Now 
they  admonish  us  only  of  our  helplessness 
and  of  perils  before  us.  We  should  be  glad 
to  keep  them  in  the  clouds. 

"The  sun  begins  to  make  himself  felt, 
though  as  yet  feebly  enough.  My  large 
spirit  thermometer,  in  the  shade  of  a  hum- 
mock some  hundred  yards  from  the  brig, 
gave  us  at  noon  —21°  5\  and  on  the  sunny 
side  of  the  same  hummock  —12°.  The  same 
thermometer,  before  a  blackboard  exposed  to 
the  sun,  was  at  —7°.  Twenty  minutes  later, 
the  thermometer  at  the  blackboard  rose  to 
+2°,  and  twenty  minutes  later  still  it  was  at 
—2°.  The  ice  formed  within  the  twenty- 
four  hours  in  the  fire-hole  measured  four 
and  a  quarter  inches;  three  quarters  of  an 
inch  less  than  our  measurements  of  it  a  week 
ago.  A  thermometer  plunged  two  feet  deep 
in  a  bank  of  light  snow-drift  indicated  —12°. 


£4i     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

''February  10.  A  hazy  day;  with  moon- 
light, and  a  drizzhng  fall  of  broken  spiculse 
following  it.  Mr.  Murdaugh  obtained  ob- 
servations for  meridian  altitude  and  time- 
sights  of  Aldebaran:  our  latitude  is  72°  19', 
our  longitude  68°  55'.  The  winds  have 
been  unfavorable  to  the  rapidity  of  our 
drift,  which  has  been  reduced  in  its  rate 
since  our  observation  on  the  29th  of  Jan- 
uary from  five  and  a  quarter  to  four  miles 
a  day.  It  may  be  that  our  approach  to  the 
narrower  parts  of  the  bay  and  the  increased 
cold  together  have  been  disturbing  causes  in 
the  movement  of  the  great  pack;  but  the 
wind  has  been  the  most  important  in  its  in- 
fluence. 

"To  look  at  the  completely  unbroken  area 
which  shows  itself  from  our  mast-head,  mo- 
tion would  be  the  last  idea  suggested.  In 
Lancaster  Sound  the  changing  phases  of 
the  coast  gave  us  a  feeling  of  progress, 
movement,  drift — that  sensation  of  change 
so  pleasing  to  one's  incomprehensible  moral 
machinery.  But  here,  with  this  circle  of 
impenetrable  passive  solidity  everywhere 
around  us,  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  we  move. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     245 

But  for  the  stars,  my  convictions  of  rest 
would  be  absolute.  Yet  we  have  thus  trav- 
eled upward  of  three  hundred  miles.  I  shall 
not  soon  forget  this  inevitable  march,  with 
its  alternations  of  gloomy  silence  and  fierce 
disruptions. 

"Fehruai'D  11,  Wednesday.  Day  very 
hazy,  and  nothing  to  interrupt  its  monotony. 
It  requires  an  effort  to  bear  up  against  this 
solemn  transit  of  unvarying  time. 

"I  will  show  you  how  I  spend  one  of  these 
days — that  is,  all  of  them.  It  is  the  only 
palliation  I  can  oifer  for  my  meagreness  of 
incident.  As  for  the  study  we  used  to  talk 
about — even  you,  terrible  worker  as  you  are, 
could  not  study  in  the  Arctic  regions. 

"Within  a  little  area,  whose  cubic  con- 
tents are  less  than  father's  library,  you 
have  the  entire  abiding-place  of  thirty-three 
heavily-clad  men.  Of  these  I  am  one. 
Three  stoves  and  a  cooking  galley,  four 
Argand  and  three  bear-fat  lamps  burn  with 
the  constancy  of  a  vestal  shrine.  Damp 
furs,  soiled  woolens,  cast-off  boots,  sick  men, 
cookery,  tobacco-smoke,  and  digestion  are 
compounding    their    effluvia    around    and 


246     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

within  me.  Hour  by  hour,  and  day  after 
day,  without  even  a  bunk  to  retire  to  or  a 
blanket-curtain  to  hide  me,  this  and  these 
make  up  the  reahty  of  my  home. 

"Outside,  grim  death,  in  the  shape  of 
—40°,  is  trying — most  foohshly,  I  think — to 
chill  the  energy  of  these  his  allies.  My  bed- 
ding lies  upon  the  bare  deck,  right  under  the 
hatch.  A  thermometer,  placed  at  the  head  of 
my  cot,  gives  a  mean  temperature  of  64° ;  at 
my  feet,  under  the  hatchway,  +16°  to  —4° 
— ice  at  my  feet,  vapor  at  my  head.  The 
sleeping-bunks  aft  range  from  70°  to  93°; 
those  forward,  regulated  by  the  medical  of- 
ficer, from  60°  to  65°. 

"We  rise,  the  crew  at  six  bells,  seven 
o'clock,  and  the  officers  at  seven  bells,  half 
an  hour  later.  Thus  comports  himself  your 
brother.  He  sits  up  in  the  midst  of  his 
blankets,  and  drinks  a  glass  of  cold  water; 
eyes,  nose,  and  mouth  chippy  with  lamp- 
black and  undue  evaporation.  Oh!  how 
comforting  this  water  is!  That  over,  a  tin- 
basin,  in  its  turn,  is  brought  round  by  ^lor- 
ton,  mush-like  with  snow;  and  in  this  mix- 
ture, by  the  aid  of  a  hard  towel,  with  a  daily 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     2i7 

regularity  that  knows  no  intermission,  he 
goes  over  his  entire  skeleton,  frictionizing. 

"This  done,  comes  the  dressing — the  two 
pairs  of  stockings,  the  three  under-shirts, 
the  fur  outer  robing,  and  the  seal-skin  boots ; 
and  then,  with  a  hurried  cough  of  disgust 
and  semi-suffocation,  he  is  on  deck.  There 
the  air,  pure  and  sharply  cold,  now  about 
26°  or  30°,  last  week  40°  below  zero,  braces 
you  up  like  peach  and  honey  in  a  Virginia 
fog,  or  a  tass  of  mountain  dew  in  the  High- 
lands. Then  to  breakfast.  Here  are  the 
mess,  with  the  fresh  smell  of  overnight  un- 
disturbed, and  on  our  table  gi'iddle  cakes 
of  Indian  meal,  hominy,  and  mackerel:  with 
hot  coffee  and  good  appetites,  we  fall  to 
manfully. 

"Breakfast  over,  on  go  the  furs  again; 
and  we  escape  from  the  accumulating  fumes 
of  'servants'  hall,'  walking  the  floes,  or 
climbing  to  the  tops,  till  we  are  frozen 
enough  to  go  below  again.  One  hour  spent 
now  in  an  attempt  at  study — vainly  enough, 
poor  devil!  But  he  does  try,  and  what  little 
he  does  is  done  then.  By  half  past  ten  our 
entire  little  band  of  officers  are  out  upon  the 


248     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

floes  for  a  bout  at  anti-scorbutic  exercise, 
a  game  of  romps:  first  foot-ball,  at  which 
we  kick  till  our  legs  ache;  next  sliding,  at 
which  we  slide  until  we  can  slide  no  more: 
then  off,  with  carbine  on  shoulder,  and  Henri 
as  satellite,  on  an  ice-tramp. 

"Coming  back,  dinner  lags  at  two.  Then 
for  the  afternoon — God  spare  the  man  who 
can  with  unscathed  nose  stand  the  effluvium. 
But  night  follows  soon,  and  with  it  the  sad- 
dening question.  What  has  the  day  achieved  ? 
And  then  we  stretch  ourselves  out  under  the 
hatches,  and  sleep  to  the  music  of  our  thirty 
odd  room-mates. 

''February  14,  Friday.  A  glorious  day, 
with  the  sun  from  nine  to  half  past  two. 
Three  bergs  seen  by  refraction.  The  mer- 
cury rose  to  +2°  over  a  black  surface  turned 
toward  the  sun.  To-day  the  usual  foot- 
ball. 

"Our  Arctic  theatre  gave  us  to-night  'The 
]Mysteries  and  Miseries  of  New  York,'  fol- 
lowed by  a  pantomime.  The  sitting  tem- 
perature was  —20° ;  that  outside,  —36° ;  be- 
hind the  scenes,  —25°.  A  flat-iron  used  by 
the  delicate  ^liss  Jem  Smith  gave  the  novel 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     249 

theatrical  effect  of  burning  by  cold.  Poor 
Jem  suffered  so  much  in  her  bare  sleeves 
and  hands,  that  whenever  the  iron  touched 
she  winced.  Cold  merriment;  but  it  con- 
cluded with  hotchpot  and  songs. 

"February  15,  Saturday.  Another  glor- 
ious day;  the  sun  visible  from  9  a.m.  to 
3  P.M.,  and  embanked  during  the  remaining 
time.  Much  to  our  surprise,  at  the  moment 
of  setting,  a  startling  ridge  of  mountain 
peaks  rose  into  sight  to  the  westward. 
Their  distance,  as  estimated  by  the  latest 
charts,  was  no  less  than  76  miles. 

"' February  22,  Saturday.  'Some  things 
can  be  done  as  well  as  others:'  so  at  least 
Sam  Patch  said,  when  he  scrambled  up  after 
his  jump  at  Niagara.  I  walked  myself  into 
a  comfortable  perspiration  this  morning, 
with  the  thermometer  at  —42°,  seventy-four 
degrees  below  the  freezing  point.  My  walk 
was  a  long  one.  When  about  three  miles 
from  the  brig,  a  breeze  sprang  up:  it  was 
very  gentle ;  but  instantly  the  sensation  came 
upon  me  of  intense  cold.  My  beard,  coated 
before  with  massive  icicles,  seemed  to  bristle 
with  increased  stiffness.     Henri,  who  walked 


250     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ahead,  began  to  suffer:  his  nose  was  tallow 
white.  Before  we  had  rubbed  it  into  cir- 
culation, my  own  was  in  the  same  condition ; 
and  an  unfortunate  hole  in  the  back  of  my 
mitten  stung  Hke  a  burning  coal.  We  are 
so  accustomed  to  cold  that  I  did  not  suffer 
during  our  walk  back,  though  it  was  more 
than  an  hour  of  hummock  crossing. 

"The  sensation  most  unendurable  of  these 
extremely  low  temperatures  is  a  pain  be- 
tween the  eyes  and  over  the  forehead.  This 
is  quite  severe.  It  reminded  me  of  a  feel- 
ing which  I  have  had  from  over-large  quan- 
tities of  ice-cream  or  ice-water,  held  against 
the  roof  of  the  mouth.  I  reached  the  brig 
in  a  fine  glow  of  warmth,  having  skated, 
slid,  and  made  the  most  of  my  time  in  the 
open  air. 

"An  increased  disposition  to  scurvy  shows 
itself.  Last  week  twelve  cases  of  scorbutic 
gums  were  noted  at  my  daily  inspections. 
In  addition  to  these,  I  have  two  cases  of 
swelled  limbs  and  extravasated  blotches, 
with  others  less  severely  marked,  from  the 
same  obstinate  disease.  The  officers  too,  the 
captain,  Mr.   Lovell,   and  JNIr.  Murdaugh, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     251 

complain  of  stiff  and  painful  joints  and 
limbs,  with  diarrhoea  and  impaired  appetite : 
the  doctor  like  the  rest.  At  my  recommen- 
dation, the  captain  has  ordered  an  increased 
allowance  of  fresh  food,  to  the  amount  of 
two  complete  extra  daily  rations  per  man, 
with  potatoes,  saur-kraut,  and  stewed  ap- 
ples; and  we  have  enjoined  more  active  and 
continued  daily  exercise,  more  complete  air- 
ing of  bedding,  &c.  I  have  commenced  the 
use  of  nitro-muriatic  acid,  as  in  syphilitic 
and  mercurial  cases,  by  external  friction. 

"The  state  of  health  among  us  gives  me 
great  anxiety,  and  not  a  little  hard  work. 
Quinine,  the  salts  of  iron,  &c.,  &c.,  are  in 
full  requisition.  For  the  first  time  I  am 
without  a  hospital  steward. 

"It  is  Washington's  birth-day,  when 
'hearts  should  be  glad ;'  but  we  have  no  wine 
for  the  dinner-table,  and  are  too  sick  for 
artificial  merriment  without  it.  Our  crew, 
however,  good  patriotic  wretches,  got  up  a 
theatrical  preformance,  'The  Irish  At- 
torney ;'  Pierce  O'Hara  taken  by  the  admir- 
able Bruce,  our  Crichton.  The  ship's  ther- 
mometer   outside    was    at    —46°.     Inside, 


252     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

among  audience  and  actors,  by  aid  of  lungs, 
lamps,  and  housings,  we  got  as  high  as  30^ 
below  zero,  only  sixty-two  below  the  freez- 
ing point!  probably  the  lowest  atmospheric 
record  of  a  theatrical  rei^resentation. 

"It  was  a  strange  thing  altogether.  The 
condensation  was  so  excessive  that  we  could 
barely  see  the  performers:  they  walked  in 
a  cloud  of  vapor.  Any  extra  vehemence  of 
delivery  was  accomjDanied  by  volumes  of 
smoke.  The  hands  steamed.  When  an  ex- 
cited Thespian  took  off  his  hat,  it  smoked 
like  a  dish  of  potatoes.  When  he  stood  ex- 
pectant, musing  a  rej^ly,  the  vapor  wreathed 
in  little  curls  from  his  neck.  This  was 
thirty  degrees  lower  than  the  lowest  of 
Parry's  North  Georgian  performances. 

"February  23,  Sunday.  Mist  comes  back 
to  us.  After  our  past  week  of  glorious  sun- 
shine, this  return  to  murkiness  is  far  from 
pleasing.  But  it  might  be  worse :  one  month 
ago,  and  a  day  like  this  would  have  made 
our  winter-stricken  hearts  bound  with  glad- 
ness. 

"Caught  a  cold  last  night  in  attending 
the  theatre.     A  cold  here  means  a  sudden 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     253 

malaise,  with  insufferable  aches  in  back  and 
joints,  hot  eyes,  and  fevered  skin.  We  all 
have  them,  coming  and  going,  short-lived 
and  long-lived:  they  leave  their  mark  too. 
This  Arctic  work  brings  extra  years  \i\)on 
a  man.  A  fresh  wind  makes  the  cold  very 
unbearable.  In  walking  to-day,  my  beard 
and  mustache  became  one  solid  mass  of  ice. 
I  inadvertently  put  out  my  tongue,  and  it 
instantty  froze  fast  to  my  lip.  This  being 
nothing  new,  costing  only  a  smart  pull  and 
a  bleeding  abrasion  afterward,  I  put  up  my 
mittened  hands  to  'blow  hot'  and  thaw  the 
unruly  member  from  its  imprisonment.  In- 
stead of  succeeding,  my  mitten  was  itself 
a  mass  of  ice  in  a  moment:  it  fastened  on 
the  upper  side  of  my  tongue,  and  flattened 
it  out  like  a  batter-cake  between  the  two 
disks  of  a  hot  griddle.  It  required  all  my 
care,  with  the  bare  hands,  to  release  it,  and 
that  not  without  laceration. 

"February  25.  A  murky  day.  Two 
hundred  and  forty-four  fathoms  of  line  gave 
no  bottom  at  the  air-hole.  Scurvy  getting 
ahead.  Began  using  the  remnant  of  our 
fetid  bear's  meat:  nasty  physic,  but  we  will 


254     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

try  it.  It  is  colder  to-day,  with  the  wind 
and  fog  at  —15°,  than  a  few  days  ago  at 
—46°.     Wind  south  by  east:  sun  not  seen. 

"February  26,  Wednesday.  The  sun 
came  back  again  with  such  vigor,  that  my 
spirit  standard  rose  over  black  to  +14° ;  my 
glass — cased,  to  +35°.  The  difference  be- 
tween shade  and  sunshine  is  30°:  a  ther- 
mometer freely  suspended  in  shade  and  in 
sun  gave  —32°  and  —2°.  Black  surfaces 
begin  to  scale  off  their  snowy  covering,  not 
by  thawing  attended  by  moisture,  but  with 
a  manifest  diminution  in  the  tenacity  and 
adhesiveness  of  the  snow.  We  observe 
these  indications  of  returning  heat  closely. 

"The  scurvy  has  at  last  fairly  extended 
to  our  own  little  body,  the  officers.  Pains 
in  the  limbs,  and  deep-seated  soreness  of  the 
bones,  seem  to  be  its  most  common  demon- 
stration. The  complaint  is  of  'a  sort  of 
tired  feeling,'  or  as  if  'they  had  had  a  beat- 
ing.' Our  usual  supper,  the  saur-kraut, 
has  become  excessively  popular.  Even  the 
abused  bear  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  it  was. 

"The  crew  have  been  snow-rubbing  their 
blankets.     The  snow  is  so  fine  and  sand- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     255 

like,  that  under  these  low  Arctic  tempera- 
tures it  acts  mechanically,  and  is  an  effectual 
cleanser.  Withal,  if  you  beat  it  well  out 
of  the  tissue,  it  is  not  a  damp  application. 
The  only  trouble  is  that,  on  taking  the  bed- 
ding below,  the  condensation  covers  it  with 
dew-drops.  With  drying-lines  on  the  lower 
decks,  the  resort  would  be  excellent. 

"The  setting  sun,  now  fast  approaching 
the  home  quarter  of  setting  suns,  the  west, 
gave  us  again  the  spectral  land  about  Cape 
Adair,  eighty  miles  off. 

"Sirius  is  beautifully  resplendent  on  the 
meridian.  What  a  fine  exhibition  it  is! 
As  it  rises  from  the  banked  horizon,  it  gives 
us  nightly  freaks  of  terrestrial  refraction. 
Its  colors  are  blue,  crimson,  and  white;  its 
shapes  oval,  hour-glass,  rhomboid,  and 
square.  Sometimes  it  is  extingiiished ;  some- 
times flashing  into  sudden  life :  it  looks  very 
like  a  revolving  light. 

"To-day,  in  putting  my  hand  inside  my 
reindeer  hood,  I  felt  a  something  move. 
The  something  had  a  crepitating,  insectine 
wriggle.  Now,  at  home  and  everywhere 
else,  without  being  a  nervous  man  as  to  in- 


256    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

sects — for  I  have  eaten  locusts  In  Sennaar 
and  bats  in  Dahomey — I  rather  disHke  the 
crawl  of  centipede  or  slime  of  snail.  Here, 
with  an  emotion  hard  to  describe,  surprise, 
pleasure,  and  a  don't-know-why  wonder- 
ment, I  caught  my  bug  gently  between 
thumb  and  finger. 

"An  air  insect  would  be,  in  this  dreary 
waste  of  cold,  an  impossibility  greater  than 
the  diamond  in  the  snow-drift.  Save  a  seal 
and  a  fox,  nothing  sharing  our  principle  of 
vitality  has  greeted  us  for  months.  The 
teeming  myriads  of  life  which  characterized 
the  Arctic  summer  have  gone.  The  anatidse 
are  clamoring  in  the  great  bays  and  water- 
courses of  the  middle  south.  The  gulls 
have  sought  the  regions  of  open  water. 
The  colymbi  and  auks  are  lining  the  north- 
ern coasts  of  my  own  dear  home.  The 
croaking  raven,  dark  bird  of  winter,  clings 
to  the  in-shore  deserts.  The  tern  are  far 
away,  and  so,  thank  Heaven,  are  the  mos- 
quitoes. There  are  no  bugs  in  the  blankets, 
no  nits  in  the  hair,  no  maggots  in  the  cheese. 
No  specks  of  life  glitter  in  the  sunshine,  no 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     257 

sounds  of  it  float  upon  the  air.  We  are 
without  a  single  sign,  a  single  instinct  of 
living  thing. 

"If  now,  with  the  thermometer  eighty  de- 
grees below  the  freezing  point,  and  the  new 
sun  casting  a  cold  gray  sheen  upon  the  snow, 
you  leave  the  thirty-one,  to  whom  you  are 
the  thirty-second,  and  walk  out  upon  the  ice 
away  off — so  far  that  no  click  of  hammer 
nor  drone  of  voice  places  you  in  relation 
with  that  little  outside  world — then  you  will 
know  how  I  felt  when  I  caught  that  'creep- 
ing wonder'  on  my  reindeer  hood.  It  was  a 
frozen  feather. 

''February  27,  Thursday.  An  aurora 
passing  through  the  zenith,  east  and  west, 
at  3h.  30m.  this  morning.  What  little  wind 
we  have  is  coming  feebly  from  the  west  and 
southwest.  The  thermometer  has  traveled 
from  —40°  to  —31°,  and  the  sun  is  out 
again  in  benign  lustre.  A  difference  of  27°, 
due  to  his  influence,  was  evident  as  early  as 
lOh.  20m.,  viz.:  Green's  spirit  standard 
gave,  in  shade,  —  33° ;  over  black  surface,  in 
sunshine,  —7°  and  —6°.     At  noonday,  the 


258     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

same  thermometer  gave  +2°.  My  glass — 
cased,  hot-house  like, — gave  the  pleasant  de- 
ception of  +40°. 

"Still  the  scurvy  increases.  I  am  down 
myself  to-day  with  all  the  premonitories. 
It  is  strangely  depressing:  a  concentrated 
'fresh  cold'  pain  extends  searchingly  from 
top  to  toe.  I  am  so  stiff  that  it  is  only  by 
an  effort  that  I  can  walk  the  deck,  and  that 
limpingly.  Once  out  on  the  floes,  my  en- 
ergies excited  and  my  blood  warmed  by  ex- 
ercise, I  can  tramp  away  freely ;  back  again, 
I  stiffen. 

"Walked  with  our  other  cook,  Auguste 
Canot.  Queer  changes  these  Frenchmen 
see!  Canot's  father,  a  captain  in  the 
French  army,  was  shot  while  serving  with 
Oudinot,  beneath  the  infernal  'barricades' 
of  Rome — Canot  the  younger  looking  on. 
A  few  months  after,  the  son  had  figm-ed 
upon  the  list  of  condemned  for  the  affair 
at  Lyons,  and  was  a  fugitive  emigre  to  the 
United  States.  The  same  sergeant-major, 
Canot,  is  now  cooking  salt  junk  in  Baffin's 
Bay.  His  confrere  J  the  modest  but  gifted 
Henri,  although  a  worse  soldier,  is  a  better 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     259 

cook.  He  first  saw  ice  among  the  glaciers 
of  La  Tour.  He  has  scuUionized  at  the 
'Trots  Freres/  and  pla3^ed  chef  to  a  London 
club-house.  He  passed  through  this  latter 
ordeal,  strange  to  say,  unscathed;  and,  but 
for  an  amorous  temperament,  might  be  now 
at  Delmonico's,  upon  good  wages  and  bad 
Bordeaux.  Henri  is  a  boy  of  talent,  pen- 
sive by  temperament,  and  withal  ambitious. 
Were  it  not  for  the  somewhat  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  two  molars  and  an  incisor,  his 
entire  stock  of  teeth,  he  would  be  an  insuf- 
ferable coxcomb.  As  it  is,  he  treats  his 
infirmity  with  amiable,  if  not  philosophic 
contempt.  He  made  me  this  morning  an 
idea  of  white  bear's  liver,  a  la  brochette. 
The  idea  was  good,  the  liver  hippuric  and 
detestable.  Henri  prides  himself  upon  that 
most  difficult  simplicity,  the  filet.  He  pre- 
pares thus  a  sea-gull  a  merveille. 

''February  28,  Friday.  The  most  win- 
tery-looking  day  I  have  ever  seen.  The 
winds  have  been  let  loose,  and  the  cheering 
novelty  of  a  northwester  breaks  in  on  our 
calm.  The  drifting  snow  either  rises  like 
smoke  from  the  levels,  or  whirls  away  in 


260     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

wreaths  from  the  hummocks.  The  atmos- 
phere has  an  opaHne  ashy  look;  in  the  midst 
of  which,  hke  a  huge  girasole,  flashes  the 
round  sun.  The  clouds  are  of  a  sort  seldom 
seen,  except  in  the  conceptions  of  adventur- 
ous artists,  quite  undefinable,  and  out  of  the 
line  of  nature,  defying  Howard's  nomencla- 
ture. They  are  blocked  out  in  square, 
stormy  masses,  against  a  pearly,  misty 
blue — harsh,  abrupt,  repulsive,  quite  out  of 
keeping  with  the  kindly  lightness  of  things 
belonging  to  the  sky." 

The  lowest  tem^Dcrature  we  recorded  dur- 
ing the  cruise  was  on  the  22d  of  this  month, 
when  the  ship's  thermometer  gave  us  —46° ; 
my  offship  spirit,  —52°;  and  my  own  self- 
registering  instruments,  purchased  from 
Green,  placed  on  a  hummock  removed  from 
the  vessels,  —53°,  as  the  mean  of  two  in- 
struments. This  may  be  taken  as  the  true 
record  of  our  lowest  absolute  temperature. 

Cold  as  it  was,  our  mid-day  exercise  was 
never  interrupted,  unless  by  wind  and  drift 
storms.  We  felt  the  necessity  of  active  ex- 
ercise; and  although  the  effort  was  accom- 
panied with  pains  in  the  joints,  sometimes 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     261 

hardly  bearable,  we  managed,  both  officers 
and  crew,  to  obtam  at  least  three  hours  a 
day.  The  exercise  consisted  of  foot-ball 
and  sHding,  followed  by  regular  games  of 
romps,  leap-frog,  and  tumbling  in  the  snow. 
By  shoveling  away  near  the  vessel,  we  ob- 
tained a  fine  bare  surface  of  fresh  ice,  ex- 
tremely glib  and  durable.  On  this  we  con- 
structed a  skating-ground  and  admirable 
slides.  I  walked  regularly  over  the  floes, 
although  the  snows  were  nearly  impassable. 

With  all  this,  aided  by  hosts  of  hygienic 
resources,  feeble  certainly,  but  still  the  best 
at  my  command,  scurvy  advanced  steadily. 
This  fearful  disease,  so  often  warded  off 
when  in  a  direct  attack,  now  exhibited  itself 
in  a  cachexy,  a  depraved  condition  of  system 
sad  to  encounter.  Pains,  diffuse,  and  non- 
locatable,  were  combined  with  an  apathy 
and  lassitude  which  resisted  all  attempts  at 
healthy  excitement. 

These,  of  course,  were  not  confined  to  the 
crew  alone:  out  of  twenty-four  men,  but 
five  were  without  ulcerated  gums  and 
blotched  limbs;  and  of  these  five,  strange 
to  say,  four  were  cooks  and  stewards.     All 


262     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  officers  were  assailed.  Old  pains  were 
renewed,  old  wounds  opened;  even  old 
bruises  and  sj)rains,  received  at  barely- 
remembered  periods  back,  came  to  us  like 
dreams.  Our  commander,  certainly  the 
finest  constitution  among  us,  was  assailed 
like  the  rest.  In  a  few  days  purpuric  ex- 
travasations aj)peared  on  his  legs,  and  a 
dysentery  enfeebled  him  to  an  extent  far 
from  safe.  An  old  wound  of  my  own  be- 
came discolored,  and,  curious  to  say,  painful 
only  at  such  points  of  old  suppuration, 
three  in  number,  as  had  been  relieved  by  the 
knife.  The  seats  of  a  couple  of  abscess- 
like openings  were  entirely  unaffected  and 
free  from  pain. 

The  close  of  the  month  found  this  state 
of  things  on  the  increase,  and  the  strength 
of  the  party  still  waning. 


THE   RESCUE   IN    HER  ICE-DOCK. 


CHAPTER  XV 


OUR  brig  was  still  resting  on  her 
cradle,  and  her  consort  on  the  floe 
a    short   distance   off,   when   the 
first   month   of   spring  came   to 
greet  us.     We  had  passed  the  latitude  of 
72°. 

To  prepare  for  our  closing  struggle  with 
the  ice-fields,  or  at  least  divide  its  hazards, 
it  was  determined  to  refit  the  Rescue.  To 
get  at  her  hull,  a  pit  was  sunk  in  the  ice 
around  her,  large  enough  for  four  men  to 
work  in  at  a  time,  and  eight  feet  deep,  so 
as  to  expose  her  stern,  and  leave  only  eight- 

263 


264     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

een  inches  of  the  keel  imbedded.  This 
novel  dry-dock  answered  perfectly.  The 
hull  was  inspected,  and  the  work  of  re- 
pair was  pressed  so  assiduously,  that  in  three 
days  the  stern-post  was  in  its  place,  and  the 
new  bowsprit  ready  for  shipping.  We  had 
now  the  chances  of  two  ships  again  in  case 
of  disaster. 

Since  the  middle  of  February  the  felt 
housing  of  our  vessel  had  shown  a  disposi- 
tion to  throw  off  its  snowy  crust.  There 
was  an  apparent  recession,  or,  rather,  want 
of  adhesion  about  it,  that  spoke  of  change. 
But  it  was  not  till  the  7th  of  :March  that 
we  witnessed  an  actual  thaw.  On  the  black 
planking  of  the  brig's  quarter,  in  full  sun 
glare,  the  snow  began  to  move,  and  fell, 
leaving  a  moist  stain.  This  was  either 
evaporated  or  frozen  instantly;  but  still  it 
had  been  there,  unequivocal  moisture.  A 
sledge,  too,  alongside  the  vessel,  kept  laden 
to  meet  emergencies,  with  a  black  felt  cover, 
gave  on  its  southern  side  a  warm  impres- 
sion to  the  unmittened  hand;  and  several 
drops  of  water  rolled  from  its  mounting  of 
snow,  and  formed  in  minute  icicles. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     265 

With  these  cheering  signs  of  returning 
warmth  came  a  sensible  improvement  in  my 
cases  of  scurvy.  I  ascribed  it  in  a  great 
degree  to  the  free  use  of  saur-kraut  and 
lime-juice,  and  to  the  constant  exercise 
which  was  enforced  as  part  of  our  sanitary 
discipline.  But  I  attributed  it  also  to  the 
employment  of  hydrochloric  acid,  applied 
externally  w^ith  friction,  and  taken  inter- 
nally as  a  tonic.  The  idea  of  this  remedy, 
hitherto,  so  far  as  I  know,  unused  in  scurvy, 
occurred  to  me  from  its  effects  in  cachectic 
cases  of  mercurial  syphilis.  I  am,  I  fear, 
heterodox  almost  to  infidelity  as  to  the  direct 
action  of  remedies,  and  rarely  allow  myself 
to  claim  a  sequence  as  a  result ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  accepted  dialectics  of  the  profes- 
sion, the  Acid,  chlorohyd.  dilut.  may  be  rec- 
onmiended  as  singularly  adapted  to  certain 
stages  of  scorbutus. 

The  gi-eat  difficulty  that  every  one  has 
encountered  in  treating  this  disease  is  in  the 
reluctance  of  the  patient  to  rouse  himself 
so  as  to  excite  the  system  by  cheerful,  glow- 
ing exercise,  and  in  the  case  of  seamen,  to 
control  their  diet.     My  ingenuity  was  often 


^m     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

taxed  for  expedients  to  counteract  these  pre- 
dispositions. Some  that  I  resorted  to  were 
ludicrous  enough. 

James  Stewart,  with  purpuric  blotches 
and  a  stiff  knee,  had  to  wag  his  leg  half  an 
hour  by  the  dial,  opposite  a  formidable  mag- 
net, each  wag  accompanied  by  a  shampooing 
knead.  Stewart  had  faith;  the  muscular 
action,  which  I  had  enjoined  so  often  in- 
effectually, was  brought  about  by  a  bit  of 
steel  and  a  smearing  of  red  sealing-wax. 
They  cured  him. 

Another,  remarkable  for  a  dirty  person, 
of  well  used-up  capillary  surface,  a  hard 
case — one  of  a  class  scarcely  ever  seen  by 
any  but  navy  doctors — sponged  freely  and 
regularlj^  from  head  to  foot  in  water  colored 
brown  by  coffee,  and  made  acid  with  vine- 
gar. His  gums  improved  at  once.  He 
would  never  have  washed  with  aqiia  fontana. 

Another  set  of  fellows  adhered  pertina- 
ciously to  their  salt  junk  and  hard  tack, 
ship  bread  and  beef.  These  conservative 
gentlemen  gave  me  much  trouble  by  repel- 
ling vegetable  food.  The  scurvy  was  play- 
ing the  very  deuce  with  them,  when  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     267 

bright  idea  occurred  to  me  of  converting 
the  rejected  delicacies  into  an  abominable 
doctor-stuff.  It  was  an  appeal  to  their 
spirit  of  martyrdom:  they  became  heroes. 
Three  times  a  day  did  these  high-spirited 
fellows  drink  a  wine  glass  of  olive-oil  and 
lime-juice,  followed  by  raw  potato  and  saur- 
kraut,  pounded  with  molasses  into  a  dam- 
nable electuary.  They  ate  nobly,  and  got 
well. 

But  the  causes  of  scurvy  were  relaxing 
their  energies  only  for  the  time.  Before 
the  month  was  out,  the  disease  had  come 
back  with  renewed  and  even  exacerbated 
virulence.  Some  of  its  phases  were  curious. 
The  joint  of  Captain  De  Haven's  second 
finger  became  the  seat  of  severe  pain,  ac- 
companied by  a  distinct  tubercle  cartilagin- 
ous to  the  touch.  It  exactly  recalled,  he 
said,  the  appearance  and  feehng  of  the  part 
for  some  months  after  it  had  been  hurt  by 
a  schoolmaster's  ruler  twenty-five  years  be- 
fore. One  of  the  crew  had  his  tongue  com- 
pletely excoriated.  Another,  who  had  lost 
a  molar  tooth  seven  years  ago,  spit  from  the 
cavity  a  conoidal  wedge:  I  had  no  chance 


268     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  examining  it  by  the  microscope;  but  an 
impression  of  the  cavity  in  wax  showed  the 
sides  perfectly  smooth,  and  the  vertex  in- 
tersected by  hnes  of  ossification.  I  have 
spoken  akeady  of  my  lance  mark  in  the 
groin:  it  had  been  healed  some  three  years; 
but  it  now  threatened  suppuration  again 
wherever  it  bore  the  marks  of  the  surgeon's 
knife. 

We  had  unfortunately  almost  exhausted 
our  supply  of  antiscorbutic  drinks,  and  were 
driven  to  the  manufacture  of  substitutes  not 
always  the  most  palatable.  One  of  them, 
which  served  at  least  as  a  vehicle  for  lime- 
juice  and  muriate  of  iron,  was,  however,  a 
recognized  exception.  It  was  a  beer,  of 
which  a  remnant  of  dried  peaches  and  some 
raisins,  with  barley  and  brown  sugar,  formed 
the  fermenting  basis.  The  men  drank  it  in 
most  liberal  quantities. 

On  the  10th  we  had  an  exhibition  of  the 
day  aurora  again,  less  brilliant  than  the  one 
I  have  described  a  few  pages  back,  but  quite 
well  marked.  It  was  followed  at  night  by 
the  paraselene.     Another  atmospheric  dis- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     269 

play,  which  occurred  a  few  days  afterward, 
attracted  more  notice. 

"31  arch  13.  Again  a  day  of  bright  sun- 
shine, but  to  my  feelings  colder  than  our 
lowest  temperatures.  The  thermometer 
stood  at  —24°  in  the  shade  at  noon,  and  the 
wind  was  very  light.  Yet  there  was  a  cut- 
ting asperity  about  it  that  made  your  face 
tingle — a  sensation  as  if  evaporation  was  go- 
ing on  under  the  skin — quite  a  painful  one. 
At  four  in  the  afternoon  the  atmosphere  was 
studded  with  glistening  particles.  I  have 
never  seen  them  so  manifest  and  so  numer- 
ous. Our  slide,  a  polished  surface  of  clear 
ice,  became  clouded  in  a  few  minutes,  and 
before  five  o'clock  it  was  perfectly  white. 
The  microscope  gave  me  the  same  broken 
hexagonal  prisms,  mixed  with  tables  closely 
resembling  the  snow-crystal.  A  haze  sur- 
rounded the  horizon,  rising  for  some  six  de- 
grees in  a  bronzed  purple  bank ;  after  which 
it  gradually  blended  with  the  sky,  a  clear 
blue,  undisturbed  by  cirri. 

"Accompanying  this  redundancy  of  at- 
mospheric spiculse  was  a  parhelion  of  re- 


270     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

markable  intensity.  There  was  no  halo 
round  the  sun,  and  no  vertical  or  horizon- 
tal column;  but  at  the  distance  of  22°  04' 
from  the  sun's  centre  were  three  solar  im- 
ages, one  on  each  side,  and  the  other  im- 
mediately above  the  sun.  This  latter  image 
was  intensely  luminous,  but  not  prismatic; 
the  others  had  the  rudiments  of  an  arc, 
highly  colored,  the  red  upon  the  inner  mar- 
gin. The  haze  rose  as  high  as  these  hori- 
zontal images ;  and  the  arc,  which  in  so  short 
a  segment  presented  no  visible  curvature, 
expanded  as  it  descended,  so  as  to  form  an 
elongated  pyramid  or  column,  the  prismatic 
tints  increasing  in  intensity  as  they  ap- 
proached the  horizon.  The  effect  of  this 
was  that  of  two  illuminated  beacons  or  rain- 
bow towers,  the  sun  blazing  between  them. 
As  we  stood  a  little  way  off  on  the  ice,  it  was 
very  beautiful  to  see  the  brig,  with  its  spars 
and  rigging  cutting  like  tracery  against  the 
central  light,  with  these  prismatic  structures 
on  each  side,  capped  by  a  spectral  sun." 

Two  evenings  later,  the  parhelia  gave  us 
another  spectacle  of  interest.  Two  mock 
suns,  which  had  accompanied  the  sun  below 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     271 

the  horizon,  sent  up  an  illuminated  and 
colored  arc  some  eight  or  ten  degrees  in 
height.  Midway  rose  a  brush-like  column 
of  crimson  (baryta)  light.  A  series  of 
flame-colored  strata,  alternating  with  an  in- 
comprehensible black  cloud,  was  so  com- 
l^letely  eclipsed  by  the  vertical  column,  that 
it  seemed  to  cut  its  way  without  a  diminution 
of  its  brightness.  The  whole  atmosphere 
was  as  warmly  tinted  as  in  the  evenings  of 
IMelville  Bay. 

Indeed,  from  the  beginning  of  the  month, 
the  skies  had  undergone  a  sensible  change 
of  aspect.  Instead  of  the  heavy-banked  or 
linear  stratus  about  the  horizon,  and  the 
light,  cold  cirri  above,  we  were  getting  back 
to  something  like  the  fall  skies  of  our  own 
climate,  the  misty  bands  of  morning  becom- 
ing fleecy  as  the  day  wore  on,  and  taking 
the  marbled  or  mackerel  character  before 
they  blended  with  the  western  skies. 

I  am  tempted  to  apologize,  once  for  all, 
for  the  imperfect  character  of  these  obser- 
vations. Our  stock  of  instruments  on  board 
was  scanty  at  the  best,  and  the  routine  ob- 
servances of  a  ship  of  war  do  not  favor  the 


272     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

prosecution  of  merely  scientific  researches. 
We  had  no  actinometer  to  mark  the  daily 
increments  of  solar  radiation:  om'  thermom- 
eters were  generally  of  rude  construction, 
and  were  not  so  placed  as  to  give  the  Iiigh- 
est  value  to  their  results ;  and  an  entry  which 
I  find  in  my  journal  explains  why  my 
barometrical  records  were  so  few. 

''March  12.  To-day,  for  the  first  time 
during  the  cruise,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  see- 
ing our  mountain  barometer  released  from 
its  stowage,  and  an  attempt  made  to  com- 
pare it  with  our  aneroids.  Before  we  be- 
gan our  drift  to  the  north,  when  we  had  no 
fires  below  to  give  us  a  constant^  vibrating 
temperature,  and  the  aneroid  of  the  Rescue 
had  not  come  into  the  over-crowded  cabin 
of  our  vessel  to  divide  the  formalities  of  reg- 
istration with  our  own,  it  might  have  been 
well  to  make  a  careful  comparison  of  the  two 
with  those  of  the  British  vessels,  and  with 
our  mountain  barometer  also.  The  index 
error  of  this  instrument  on  its  zero  point 
could  have  been  adjusted  then  by  reference 
to  others  that  were  just  from  Greenwich, 
and  it  would  have  been  practicable,  perhaps, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     273 

to  give  something  of  increased  value  to  our 
log-book  records  of  the  atmospheric  pres- 
sure. Under  all  the  circumstances,  I  have 
not  thought  it  necessary  to  transfer  them  to 
my  journal." 

As  the  middle  of  March  approached,  our 
drift  became  gradually  slower,  until  we  al- 
most reached  a  state  of  rest.  For  several 
days  we  advanced  at  an  average  rate  of 
scarcely  half  a  mile  a  day.  We  were  at 
this  time  some  seventy  miles  east  of  Caj)e 
Adair,  our  nearest  Greenland  shore  being 
somewhere  between  Upper  Navik  and 
Disco;  and  the  idea  of  encountering  the  final 
break-up  among  the  closely-impacted  masses 
that  surrounded  us,  or  of  being  carried  back 
to  the  north  by  some  inopportune  counter- 
current,  was  far  from  pleasant.  But  our 
log-line,  in  an  attempt  at  soundings,  showed 
still  a  marked  under-draught  toward  the 
south ;  and  in  a  few  days  more  we  were  mov- 
ing southward  again  with  increased  velocity. 

The  19th  gave  us  a  change  of  scene.  I 
was  aroused  from  mj^  morning  sleej)  by  the 
familiar  voice  of  Mr.  Murdaugh,  as  he  hur- 
ried along  the  half -deck:  "Ice  opening" — 


274     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"Open  leads  off  our  starboard  quarter" — 
"Frost-smoke  all  around  us !"  Five  minutes 
afterward,  Henri  had  been  summoned  from 
the  galley ;  and,  carbine  in  hand,  I  was  tum- 
bling over  the  hummocks. 

After  a  heavy  walk  of  half  a  mile,  sure 
enough  there  it  was — the  open  lead — stretch- 
ing with  its  film  of  forming  ice  far  in  a 
narrowing  perspective  to  the  east  and  west. 
Balboa  himself  never  looked  out  upon  an 
ocean  with  more  grateful  feelings  than  I  did 
upon  this  open  chasm,  the  first  inbreak  upon 
complete  solidity  which  we  had  known  since 
the  15th  of  January.  It  was  a  breach  in 
our  prison-walls.  The  undulatory  move- 
ment of  the  mercury  and  the  varied  appear- 
ance of  the  clouds  were  now  explained.  Al- 
though only  discovered  this  morning,  the 
rupture  must  have  been  going  on  for  days, 
perhaps  a  week.  Our  winds  had  favored 
the  separation  of  cracks  into  wide  channels; 
but  how  such  changes  could  have  taken  place 
puzzled  me. 

The  ice,  as  shown  by  my  measurements, 
was  from  four  to  eight  feet;  and  even  now, 
when  I  recall  the  fearful  sounds  which  ac- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     275 

companied  the  Lancaster  Sound  commo- 
tions, I  can  hardly  reaHze  that  such  exten- 
sive chasms  should  have  been  formed  almost 
in  silence.  We  could  only  guess  what  had 
been  the  extent  of  our  ice-field  at  this  time. 
Baffin's  Bay  was  nearly  three  hundred  miles 
across,  and  the  field  ma}^  have  been  twice 
as  long  in  the  other  direction.  Perhaps  the 
wave  action  of  a  heavy  sea,  great  sub- 
glacial  billows,  unfelt  at  our  fast-cemented 
little  vessel,  may  have  broken  the  tables 
without  the  crash  and  tumult  of  a  collision. 
The  lead  where  I  first  reached  it,  to  the 
southeast  of  our  brig,  was  nearly  three  hun- 
dred yards  across;  not,  however,  three  hun- 
dred yards  of  open  water,  but  a  separation 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  original  floe  of 
about  that  distance.  The  sides  still  showed 
their  clean-edged  fracture,  diversified  by 
drift  and  hummock,  and  rising  above  the  in- 
tervening level,  like  the  banks  of  a  tideless 
river,  margined  by  new  ice  and  crusted  with 
efflorescing  snow.  But  at  its  further  or 
southern  side,  a  long  strip,  narrow  and  very 
black,  gave  evidence  of  open  water.  In 
this,  surrounded  by  exhaling  mist  and  frost- 


276     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

smoke,  were  our  old  friends,  the  seal ;  grave, 
hirsute-looking  fellows,  who  rose  out  of  the 
water  breast-high,  and  gazed  upon  us  with 
the  curious  faces  of  old  times.  Near  them 
was  a  solitary  dovekie,  dressed  in  its  gray 
winter  plumage,  the  first  bird  I  had  seen 
for  days;  here,  too,  had  crossed  the  tracks 
of  a  bear. 

All  this  was  very  cheering.  To  see  some- 
thing, no  matter  what,  checkering  the  waste 
of  white  snow,  was  like  a  shady  grove  to 
men  sun-tired  in  a  prairie;  but  to  see  life 
again — life,  tenanting  the  desolate  air  and 
inhospitable  sea — was  a  spring  of  water  in 
the  desert.  My  old  hostihty  to  gun-murder 
was  forgotten.  I  wasted,  of  course,  some 
small  remnant  of  poetic  sympathy  with 
fellow-life  thus  springing  up  out  of  the  wil- 
derness; but  then,  in  the  midst  of  my  sym- 
pathies, came  the  destructive  instinct  which 
longed  to  make  it  subservient  to  my  wants. 
The  scurvy,  the  scurvy  patients,  myself 
among  the  rest ! — ^but  the  seal  and  the  dove- 
kies  kept  themselves  out  of  shot. 

At  this  lead  we  saw  the  recent  frost- 
smoke  within  a  few  yards  of  us  in  pointed 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     277 

tongues  of  vapor:  further  off,  the  long, 
wreathy  brown  clouds  were  rising.  I  never 
before,  not  even  in  Wellington  Channel, 
saw  this  phenomenon  in  greater  perfection: 
in  Welhngton  it  was  an  interesting,  some- 
times a  gloomy  feature;  here  it  was  impos- 
ing. As  far  back  as  the  twelfth,  we  had 
caught  glimpses  of  brown  vapor  in  this  very 
direction:  we  now  learned  to  look  upon  it 
in  certain  phases  as  an  unerring  indication 
of  open  water,  and  wondered  that  w^e  did 
not  so  regard  it  earlier. 

The  chasms  were  not  limited  to  the  long 
lead  before  us.  They  extended  to  the  east 
and  west  indefinitely;  and  were  intersected 
by  transverse  fissures,  which  so  met  each 
other  as  completely  to  surround  our  vessels. 
From  this  circuit  the  frost-smoke  was  rising. 
The  thermometer  stood  at  —20°,  fifty-two 
degrees  below  the  freezing  point  in  the 
shade;  but  the  sun  was  shining  brilliantly, 
raising  the  mercury  to  +10°.  Under  these 
circumstances,  theoretically  so  favorable, 
this  Arctic  phenomenon  became  the  most 
prominent  feature  in  the  scene. 

As  I  stood  upon  a  tall  knob  of  hummock. 


278     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  entire  horizon  seemed  to  be  sending  up, 
exhahng  a  bronzine  smoke — not  the  lambent, 
smoky  wreaths  which  I  have  compared  to 
burning  turpentine,  but  a  pecuhar  russet 
brown  smoke,  tongued  and  wreathy  when 
near,  but  at  a  distance  roUing  in  cumulated 
masses.  These  seemed  to  cling  at  their 
bases  to  the  surface  from  which  they  rose, 
like  the  discharges  of  artillery  over  water, 
or  a  locomotive  steaming  over  a  cold,  wet 
meadow.  They  were  wafted  by  the  wind, 
so  as  to  drive  them  out  in  lines  two  or  three 
hundred  yards  long;  but  they  clung  tena- 
ciously to  the  water  and  young  ice,  giving 
us  a  varying  but  always  narrow  horizon  of 
smoke.  The  Rescue  was  enveloped  with 
the  heavy,  sooty  clouds  of  repeated  broad- 
sides. If  I  had  seen  the  flashing  of  guns 
or  the  glimmer  of  burning  prairie-grass,  I 
should  have  been  less  impressed ;  so  strange, 
very  strange,  was  this  ordinary  attendant  on 
conflagration  rolling  in  the  midst  of  our 
winteriness. 


EFFECT    OF    FROST-SMOKE. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


M 


<'T^  /fARCH  20.  Thursday,  the 
20th  of  March,  opens  with 
a  gale,  a  regular  gale.  On 
reaching  deck  after  break- 
fast, I  found  the  wind  from  the  southeast, 
the  thermometer  at  zero,  and  rising.  These 
southeast  storms  are  looked  upon  as  having 
an  important  influence  on  the  ice.  They 
are  always  warm,  and  by  the  sea  which  they 
excite  at  the  southern  margin  of  the  pack, 
have  a  great  effect  in  breaking  the  floes. 
JNIr.  Olrik  told  me  that  they  were  anxiously 
looked  for  on  the  Greenland  coast  as  pre- 
cursors of  open  water.  The  date  of  the 
southeast  gale  last  year,  at  Uppernavik,  was 
April  25th.  Our  thermometer  gave  +5° 
at  noonday,  +7°  at  one,  and  +8°  at  three 
o'clock ! 

"This  is  the  heaviest  storm  we  have  had 
since  entering  Lancaster  Sound,  exactly 
seven  months  and  a  day  ago.     The  snow  is 

279* 


280     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

whirled  in  such  quantities,  that  our  thick 
felt  housing  seems  as  if  of  gauze:  it  not 
only  covers  our  decks,  but  drives  into  our 
clothes  like  fine  dust  or  flour.  A  plated 
thermometer  was  invisible  fourteen  feet 
from  the  eye :  from  the  distance  of  ten  paces 
off  on  our  quarter,  a  white  opacity  covers 
every  thing,  the  compass-stand,  fox-traps, 
and  all  beyond:  the  Rescue,  of  course,  is 
completely  hidden.  This  heavy  snow-drift 
exceeds  any  thing  that  I  had  conceived,  al- 
though many  of  my  Arctic  English  friends 
had  discoursed  to  me  eloquently  about  their 
perils  and  discomforts.  As  to  facing  it  in 
a  stationary  position,  nothing  human  could ; 
for  a  man  would  be  buried  in  ten  minutes. 
Even  in  reaching  our  little  Tusculum,  we 
tumble  up  to  our  middle,  in  places  where 
a  few  minutes  before  the  very  ice  was  laid 
bare.  The  entire  topography  of  our  ice  is 
changing  constantly. 

"7  P.M.  'The  wind  is  howling.'  Our 
mess  begin  to  talk  again  of  sleeping  in  boots, 
and  the  other  luxuries  of  Lancaster  Sound. 
For  my  own  part,  better,  far  better  this, 
with  the  spicy  tingling  of  a  crisis,  than  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     281 

corroding,  scurvy-engendering  sameness  of 
the  past  two  months.  Every  moment  now 
is  full  of  expectation. 

"March  21.  The  wind  changed  this 
morning  to  the  westward,  and  by  daylight 
was  blowing  freshly.  After  breakfast, 
Murdaugh  and  myself  started  on  a  tramp 
to  the  'open  water,'  to  see  the  effects  of  the 
gale.  The  drift  was  beyond  conception; 
sufficient,  in  many  places,  to  have  covered 
up  our  whole  ship's  company.  The  wind 
made  it  as  cold  at  —5°  as  I  have  seen  it 
at  —30°,  and  the  fine  snow  pelted  our  faces; 
but  the  surface  was  frozen  so  hard  tlfat  we 
walked  over  the  crust,  and  in  a  little  over 
half  an  hour  we  reached  the  lead. 

"Planting  a  signal  pole,  with  a  red  silk 
handkerchief  as  a  mark,  and  taking  compass- 
bearings  to  guide  us  back  again,  we  began 
to  look  around  us.  Our  expectations  of 
hummock  action  were  agreeably  disap- 
pointed. We  thought  that  the  storm  would 
have  driven  the  ice  from  the  southward,  and 
that  the  change  of  wind  would  have  mar- 
shaled opposing  floes  to  meet  it.  But  it 
was  not  so.     Even  the  young,  marginal  ice, 


^82     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

though  warped,  was  unbroken.  The  pres- 
sure had  evidently  taken  place,  but  with 
little  effect.  After  the  gigantic  upheavings 
of  Lancaster  Sound,  excited  by  winds  much 
weaker,  no  wonder  I  was  surprised.  Upon 
thinking  it  over,  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  absence  of  a  j^oint  d'aypui,  either 
of  land  or  land-ice,  was  the  cause  of  these 
diminished  actions.  We  were  now  in  a 
great  sea,  surrounded  by  consolidated  floes, 
and  away  from  salient  capes  or  shore-bound 
ice.  The  pressure  was  diffused  throughout 
a  greater  mass,  without  points  of  special  or 
even  unequal  resistance.  If  this  reasoning 
holds,  we  will  not  experience  the  exxiected 
tumult  until  we  drift  into  a  region  where 
forces  are  more  in  opposition;  perhaps  not 
until  we  reach  the  contraction  of  Davis' 
Straits. 

"The  young  ice  margin  of  this  open  lead 
had  the  appearance  of  a  beautiful  wave- 
flattened  sand  beach.  The  lead  itself  had 
opened  so  far  that  its  opposite  shores  were 
barely  visible.  The  wind  checked  the  im- 
mediate formation  of  new  ice;  and,  to  our 
inexpressible  joy,   there,   ghttering   in   the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     283 

cold  sunlight,  were  little  rippling  waves. 
So  long  have  we  been  pent  up  by  this 
wretched  circle  of  unchanging  snow,  that  I 
make  myself  ridiculous  by  talking  of  trifles, 
with  which  you,  milk- drinking,  sun-basking, 
melted-water-seeing  people  at  home  can 
have  no  sympathy.  In  spite  of  the  winds 
and  the  snow-drift,  I  could  hear  the  babbling 
of  these  waves  as  they  laughed  in  their  tem- 
porary freedom. 

"March  22,  Saturday.  I  started  again 
for  the  ice-openings.  There  had  evidently 
been  a  good  deal  of  commotion  in  the  night ; 
but  nothing  so  violent  as  to  negative  my  yes- 
terday's conclusions.  Still  there  were  hum- 
mocks of  young  tables,  and  some  ugly  twists 
of  the  beach  line;  and  matters  had  not  yet 
settled  themselves  into  rest.  As  the  great 
floe  on  which  I  stood  traveled,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  west  wind,  obliquely  eastward, 
I  heard  once  more  the  familiar  sounds  of 
our  nodes  Lancastriance.  The  grating  of 
nutmegs,  the  cork  rubbing  of  old-fashioned 
tables,  the  young  puppies,  and  the  bee-hives ; 
all  these  were  back  again;  but  we  missed 
pleasantly  the  wailing,  the  howling,  the  clat- 


284     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

tering,  the  exploding  din,  which  used  to 
come  to  us  through  the  darkness.  The 
pulse-like  interval  was  there  too,  hke  a 
breathing- time ;  but  the  dayhght  modified 
every  thing,  my  feelings  most  of  all.  They 
became  almost  pleasant,  as  I  listened,  after 
a  lullaby  fashion,  to  the  bees  and  puppies; 
and  something  very  like  gratitude  came  over 
me,  as  I  thought  of  the  uncertain  gloom  or 
palpable  midnight  which  accompanied  a  few 
weeks  ago  the  'voices  of  the  ice.'  The  ther- 
mometer was  21°  below  zero,  and  the  wind 
blowing:  naturally  enough,  my  nose  became 
a  tallow  nose  in  the  midst  of  my  reverie. 
So  I  rubbed  the  nose,  blew  the  nose,  buffeted 
my  armpits  until  my  fingers  tingled,  and 
then  started  off  on  a  tramp. 

"Seal  were  seen,  curious  as  usual,  but  in- 
dulging in  the  weakness  afar  off.  Presently 
two  poor  winter-mated  little  divers  met  my 
meat-seeking  senses.  One  of  these  I  killed 
with  my  rifle,  covetously  regretting  that  my 
one  ball  could  not  align  his  mate.  This  was 
the  first  game  we  had  obtained  since  the 
fall:  he  was  divided,  poor  fellow,  between 
two  of  my  scurvy  j)atients.     In  getting  this 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     285 

bird  out,  I  came  very  near  getting  myself 
in ;  and  that,  when  a  ducking  means  a  freez- 
ing, is  no  fun. 

"10  P.M.  To-night  finds  me  knocked  up. 
Be  it  known,  that  after  crawhng  on  my 
belly,  not  like  the  wisest  of  animals,  for  two 
hours,  I  came  nearly  within  shot  of  a  week's 
fresh  meat.  The  fresh  meat  dived,  first 
shaking  his  whisker  tentacles  at  my  discon- 
solate beard,  leaving  me  half  frozen  and 
wholly  discontented.  Fool-like,  after  the 
long  walk  back,  the  warming,  the  drying, 
and  the  feeding,  I  returned  by  the  other 
long  walk  to  the  ice-openings,  tramped  for 
two  hours,  saw  nothing  but  frost-smoke,  and 
came  back  again,  dinnerless,  with  legs  quak- 
ing, and  spirits  wholly  out  of  tune. 

"Our  drift  to-day,  at  meridian,  was  in  the 
neighborhood  of  9  miles;  our  latitude  was 
71°  9'  18''. 

''March  23,  Sunday.  After  divine  serv- 
ice, started  for  the  ice-openings.  We  are 
now  in  the  centre  of  an  area,  which  we  es- 
timated roughly  as  four  miles  from  north  to 
south,  and  a  little  more  east  and  west.  On 
reaching  what  was  yesterday's  sea-beach,  I 


286     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

was  forced  to  recant  in  a  measure  my  con- 
victions as  to  the  force  of  the  opposing  floes. 
Yesterday's  beach  existed  no  longer;  it  was 
swallowed  up,  crushed,  crumbled,  sub- 
merged, or  uplifted  in  long  ridges  of  broken 
ice. 

"The  actions  were  still  in  progress,  and 
fast  intruding  upon  the  solid  old  ice  which 
is  our  homestead.  The  ice-tables  now  crum- 
bling into  hummocks  were  from  eight  to 
fourteen  inches  thick,  generally  ten.  Not 
even  in  Lancaster  Sound  did  the  destruction 
of  surface  go  on  more  rapidly.  The  wind 
was  a  moderate  breeze  from  the  northwest, 
and  the  floes  were  advancing  on  each  other 
at  a  rate  of  a  knot  and  a  half  an  hour,  build- 
ing up  hummock  tables  along  their  Hue  of 
collision.  Several  rose  in  a  few  minutes  to 
a  height  of  ten  or  twelve  feet.  I  have  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  these  glacial  erup- 
tions, that  I  mounted  the  upheaving  ice,  and 
rode  upon  the  fragments — an  amusement  I 
could  hardly  have  practiced  safely  before  I 
had  studied  their  changes. 

"The    snow-covered    level    upon    which 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     287 

Brooks  and  myself  were  walking  was  about 
thirty  paces  wide,  between  the  older  ice  on 
one  side  and  the  encroaching  hummock-line 
on  the  other.  Upon  our  return,  after  a 
walk  of  a  short  half  mile,  we  found  our  foot- 
steps obliterated,  and  the  hummock-line 
Vv  ithin  a  few  yards  of  this  older  ice.  Things 
are  changing  rapidly. 

"A  new  crack  was  reported  at  one  o'clock, 
about  the  third  of  a  mile  from  our  ship ;  and 
the  bearings  of  the  sun  showed  that  our 
brig  had,  for  the  first  time  since  entering 
Baffin's  Bay,  rotated  considerably  to  the 
northward.  Here  were  two  subjects  for  ex- 
amination. So,  as  soon  as  dinner  was  over, 
I  started  with  Davis  and  WilHe,  two  of  my 
scurvy  henchmen,  on  a  walk  to  the  open- 
ings. Reaching  the  recent  crack,  we  found 
the  ice  five  feet  four  inches  thick,  and  the 
black  water,  in  a  clear  streak  a  foot  wide, 
running  to  the  east  and  west.*  I  had  often 
read  of  Esquimaux  being  carried  off  by  the 
separation  of  these  great  floes;  but,  know- 

*  This  direction,  transverse  to  the  long  axis  of  Baflto's 
Bav,  seems  to  be  that  of  most  of  our  fissures. 


^88     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ing  that  our  guns  could  caU  assistance  from 
the  brig,  we  jumped  over  and  hurried  on. 
We  were  weU  paid. 

"The  hunamockings  of  this  morning  had 
ceased;  the  wind  so  gentle  as  hardly  to  be 
perce]3tible :  the  lead  before  me  was  an  open 
river  of  water,  and  in  it  were  narwhals 
{M.  monoceros)  y  in  groups  of  five  or  six, 
rolling  over  and  over,  after  the  manner  of 
the  dolphin  tribe.  They  were  near  me;  so 
near  that  I  could  see  their  checkered  backs, 
and  enjoy  the  rich  coloring  that  decorates 
them.  The  horn,  that  monodontal  process 
which  gives  them  their  name  of  sea-unicorn, 
was  perfectly  examinable.  Rising  in  a 
spirally  indented  cone,  this  beautiful  ap- 
pendage appeared  sometimes  eight  and  ten 
feet  out  of  water;  one  especially,  whose  tall 
curvetings  astonished  my  body-guard.  I 
never  saw  a  more  graceful,  striking,  and 
beautiful  exhibition  than  the  unrestrained 
play  of  these  narwhals.*     In  the  same  oj)en 

*  I  have  seen  many  of  these  fish  since,  but  never  under 
such  circumstances.  I  stood  on  a  ledge  of  hummock  within 
short  gunshot.  The  animals  were  entirely  unapprehensive. 
The  non-symmetrical  character  of  the  "horn"  (an  unduly 
developed  tooth,  say  the  naturalists)  was  not  seen;  and  as 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     289 

water,  almost  in  company  with  the  narwhals, 
were  white  whales  {Delijhinopterus  albicans, 
or  Beluga:  these  cetacea  have  so  many 
names,  they  puzzle  me),  and  seal  besides. 

"I  was  tempted  to  stay  too  long.  The 
wind  sprang  up  suddenly.  The  floe  began 
to  move.  I  thought  of  the  crack  between 
me  and  the  ship,  and  started  off.  The  walk- 
ing, however,  was  very  heavy,  and  my  scurvy 
patients  stiff  in  the  extensors.  By  the  time 
I  reached  the  crack,  it  had  opened  into  a 
chasm,  and  a  river  as  broad  as  the  Wis- 
sahiccon  ran  between  me  and  our  ship. 
After  some  little  anxiety — not  much — I  saw 
our  captain  ordering  a  party  to  our  relief. 
The  sledges  soon  appeared,  dragged  by  a 
willing  party;  the  India  rubber  boat  was 
lowered  into  the  lead,  and  the  party  ferried 
over.  So  ends  this  last  trip  to  these  ice- 
openings. 

"It  is  evident  that  these  gradual  crack- 
formings  and  chasm-openings,  with  the  hum- 
mocking  and  other  attendant   actions,   are 

this  long  lance-like  process  played  about  at  a  constantly 
varying  angle,  it  reminded  me  of  the  mast  of  some  sunken 
boat  swayed  by  the  waves. 


290     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

but  preludes  to  a  complete  breaking  up. 
Our  previous  observations  show  that  the  dis- 
ruption of  these  large  areas  can  not  be  ef- 
fected suddenly.  It  is  a  gradual  process; 
so  gradual,  even  in  Lancaster  Sound,  as 
to  allow  time  for  personal  escape,  although 
the  vessel  be  a  victim. 

"From  the  12th  of  January,  the  date  of 
our  last  break-up,  down  to  the  present  move- 
ment, is  two  months.  The  intense  cold, 
with  feeble  winds  and  the  absence  of  impact 
or  collisions,  have  kept  up  the  integrity  of 
this  great  pack.  I  think  it  may  reasonably 
be  doubted  whether  it  will  now  close  again 
before  our  liberation  or  destruction.  The 
excessive  thickness  of  the  tables,  the  wave 
and  tidal  actions,  the  mildening  tempera- 
ture, and  the  probable  continuance  of  winds, 
all  point  to  this.  We  have  already  a  system 
of  fissures  within  a  third  of  a  mile  of  us; 
and  a  continued  augmentation  of  their  num- 
ber must  soon  place  us  in  a  centre  of  com- 
motion. It  is  pleasant  by  one's  ice-experi- 
ence to  anticipate  the  state  of  things:  and 
now  that  the  battle  is  coming  on  again,  I 
make  a  record  of  these  reasoned  expecta- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     291 

tions,  to  show  you  hereafter  how  well  I  am 
reasoning. 

"One  thing  more:  the  days  have  stolen 
upon  us — longer,  and  longer,  and  longer, 
until  now  the  long  twilight  lets  me  read  on 
deck  as  late  as  eight  p.m.  In  fact,  the  sun's 
greatest  dej^ression  below  the  horizon  is  now 
18°,  the  limit  of  theoretical  twilight. 

''March  26,  Wednesday.  The  same  pe- 
cuhar  crisping  or  crackling  sound,  which  I 
noted  on  the  2d  of  February,  was  heard  this 
morning  in  every  direction.  This  sound,  as 
the  'noise  accompanying  the  aurora,'  has 
been  attributed  by  Wrangell  and  others, 
ourselves  among  the  rest,  to  changes  of  at- 
mospheric temperature  acting  upon  the 
crust  of  the  snow.  We  heard  it  most  dis- 
tinctly between  seven  and  eight  a.m.,  when 
the  solar  ray  should  begin  to  affect  the  snow. 
The  mercury  stood  at  —27°  at  five,  rising 
to  —19°  by  nine  a.m.,  and  attaining  a  maxi- 
mum of  -2°  by  noonday.  But  this  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  indicating  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  snow  surface.  The  snow,  when 
horizontal,  according  to  all  my  observations, 
differs  but  little  in  temperature  from  the  at- 


^92     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

mosphere,  owing  probably  to  its  oblique  re- 
ception of  the  solar  ray;  while  the  snow- 
coverings  of  the  hummocks  and  angular  floe- 
tables,  which  receive  the  rays  at  right  angles, 
show  by  repeated  trials  a  marked  augmenta- 
tion. I  venture,  therefore,  to  refer  this  pe- 
culiar crisping  sound  to  the  unequal  con- 
traction and  dilatation  of  these  unequally 
presenting  surfaces,  not  to  a  sudden  change 
of  atmospheric  temperature  acting  upon  the 
snow. 

"To-day  we  saw  a  couple  of  icebergs  look- 
ing up  in  the  far  south. 

''March  27,  Thursday.  The  sun  shone 
out,  but  not  as  yesterday.  The  little  cirrous 
clouds  interfere  with  its  brightness,  and  af- 
fect very  percej)tibly  its  warmth.  To  the 
eye,  however,  the  day  is  undimmed. 

"The  wind,  which  we  watch  closely  as 
the  index  of  our  ice-changes,  our  leading 
variety,  came  out  at  seven  in  the  evening 
from  the  northward ;  and  with  it  came  a  rise 
of  black  frost-smoke  to  the  south,  shownig 
that  the  old  ice-opening  had  gaped  again. 
I  had  started  before  this  at  half  past  five, 
with  old  Blinn,  my  faithful  satellite,  for  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     293 

bright  plain,  glittering  in  the  low  sunshine 
some  three  miles  to  the  west,  a  new  direction. 
We  did  not  get  back  till  eight. 

"Let  me  make  a  picture  for  you  without 
a  jot  of  fancy  about  it,  and  you  may  get  H. 
to  put  it  into  colors  if  he  can.  The  sun  was 
low,  very  low;  and  his  long,  slanting  beams, 
of  curious  indescribable  purple,  fell  upon  old 
BUnn  and  myself  as  we  sat  on  a  crag  of  ice 
which  overhung  the  sea.  The  chasm  was 
perhaps  a  mile  wide,  and  the  opposite  ice- 
shores  were  so  painted  by  the  glories  of  the 
sunshine,  that  they  appeared  hke  streaks  of 
flame,  licking  continuous  water.  The  place 
to  which  we  had  worked  ourselves  had  been 
subjected  to  forces  which  no  one  could  real- 
ize, so  chaotic,  and  enormous,  and  incompre- 
hensible were  they.  A  line  of  old  floe,  eight 
feet  thick  and  four  miles  long,  had  been 
powdered  into  a  pedragal  of  crushed  sugar, 
rising  up  in  great  efflorescing  knobs  fifteen 
and  twenty  feet  high;  and  from  amid  these, 
like  crystal  rocks  from  the  foam  of  a  catar- 
act, came  transparent  tables  of  blue  ice, 
floating,  as  it  were,  on  unsubstantial  white- 
ness.    Some  of  these  blocks  measured  eight 


294     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

feet  in  thickness  by  twenty-two  long,  and  of 
indeterminate  depth,  one  side  being  obhquely 
buried  in  the  mass.  On  one  of  these  tables, 
that  stretched  out  hke  a  glass  spear-point, 
directly  over  the  water,  were  straddled  your 
brother  and  his  companion.  Underneath  us 
the  narwhals  were  passing  almost  witliin 
pole-reach.  As  they  rolled  over,  much  after 
the  fashion  of  our  own  porpoises,  I  could  see 
the  markings  of  their  backs,  and  the  great 
suction  of  their  jaws  throwing  the  water 
into  eddies.  Seal,  breast-high,  were  tread- 
ing water  with  their  horizontal  tails,  and  the 
white  whale  was  blowing  purple  sprays  into 
the  palpable  sunshine. 

"March  23,  Friday.  I  visited  the  west- 
ern opening  of  yesterday.  The  sea  has 
dwindled  to  a  narrow  lane,  flanked  by  the 
heavy  hummocks,  whose  rupture  formed  the 
sides.  Although  the  aperture  was  so  dis- 
tant yesterday  that  I  could  barely  see  the 
further  banks,  here  and  there  dotting  the 
horizon,  it  has  now  closed  with  such  nice 
adaptation  of  its  line  of  fracture,  that,  but 
for  a  few  yards  of  lateral  deviation,  this 
'yesternight  sea'  would  be  nothing  but  a 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     295 

crack  in  the  ice-field.  The  area  of  filmy 
ice  that  was  between  the  edges  of  the  lead 
had  been  thrust  under  the  floe,  thus  aiding 
the  process  of  re-cementation.  These  ice- 
actions  are  very  complicated  and  various. 

"Retracing  my  steps  by  a  long  circuit  to 
the  southward,  I  came  to  a  spot  where, 
without  any  apparent  axis  of  fracture 
(chasm),  the  ice  presented  all  the  phenom- 
ena of  table-hummocks.  It  was  very  old 
and  thick,  at  least  nine  feet  in  solid  depth. 
About  a  little  circle  of  a  hundred  yards 
diameter,  it  had  been  thrown  up  into  vari- 
ously-presenting surfaces,  with  a  marked 
bearing  toward  a  focus  of  greatest  energy 
and  accumulation,  presenting  an  appearance 
almost  eruptive.  The  crushed  fragments 
exuding  and  falling  over,  and  rolling  down 
toward  the  level  ice,  so  as  to  cover  it  for  feet 
in  depth  with  powdery,  granulated  rubbish ! 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MY  journal  for  the  closing  days 
of  March  and  the  early  one  of 
April  is  full  of  varying  drifts 
and  alternating  temperatures. 
Still,  it  seemed  as  if,  by  some  gradual  though 
scarcely  explicable  process,  the  work  of  our 
extrication  was  going  on.  Sometimes  the 
wind  would  come  to  us  from  the  southeast 
— the  breaking-up  wind  as  we  called  it,  be- 
cause as  it  subsided  the  reaction  of  the  floes 
developed  itself  in  fissures;  but  more  fre- 
quently from  the  north,  expediting  our 
course  to  a  more  genial  latitude.  The  floes 
themselves  were,  however,  much  more  mas- 
sive and  gnarled  than  any  we  had  seen  be- 
fore: every  party  that  left  the  vessel  for  an 
ice-tramp  came  back  Avith  exaggerated  im- 
pressions of  the  mighty  energies  that  had 
hurled  them  together.  We  felt  that  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  any  organ- 

296 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     297 

ized  structure  of  wood  and  metal  to  resist 
such  Maelstroms  of  solid  ice  as  had  left  these 
memorials  around  us,  and  looked  forward 
with  scarcely  pleasurable  anticipations  to  the 
equivalent  forces  that  might  be  required  to 
obliterate  them.  Some  extracts  from  my 
journal  may  show  how  far  other  causes  were 
in  the  mean  time  operating  our  release. 

''April  7,  Monday.  For  the  last  fort- 
night the  ice  has  been  perceptibly  moist  at 
the  surface.  The  open  crack  near  our  brig 
to  the  south  has  now  been  closed  for  nearly 
a  fortnight;  yet  the  snow  which  covers  it  is 
quite  slushy.  The  trodden  paths  around 
our  ship  are  in  muddy  pulp,  adhering  to  the 
boots.  All  this  can  hardly  be  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  sun  upon  the  surface ;  for  the 
thermometer  seldom  exceeds  +16°,  and  is 
more  generally  below  +10°  at  noonday. 
Yet  this  temperature  has  an  evident  in- 
fluence upon  the  status  of  the  ice,  increas- 
ing its  peraieability,  and  permitting  some 
changes  analogous  to  thawing,  but  which  I 
can  not  explain.  May  it  be  that  the  crys- 
talline structure  of  the  ice  is  undergoing 
some  modification,  that  increases  its  capilar- 


298     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ity,  or  develops  an  action  like  the  endosmose 
and  exosmose! 

"It  is  a  mere  puzzle,  of  course,  for  we 
have  not  data  enough  to  make  it  a  question. 
Yet  there  is  another  like  it  that  I  can  not 
help  setting  down.  Can  it  be  that  our  ther- 
mometers, so  notorious  in  this  Polar  region 
for  their  imperfect  coincidence  with  'sensa- 
tions of  cold,'  are  equally  fallacious  as  meas- 
ures of  absolute  increments  or  decrements 
of  sensible  caloric?  It  will  not  do,  I  sup- 
pose, to  admit  such  a  supposition;  yet  the 
marvels  which  come  constantly  before  me 
may  almost  justify  it.  You  know  that  I 
am  no  heat-maker.  Well,  my  winter  trials, 
as  you  may  imagine,  have  not  increased  my 
vital  energies.  Suppose  me,  then,  as  you 
knew  me  when  I  left  New  York.  For  the 
past  week  I  have  almost  lived  in  the  open  air 
— genial,  soft,  bland,  and  to  sensation  just 
cool  enough  to  be  pleasantly  tonic.  I  walk 
moderately,  and  am  in  comfortable,  glowing 
warmth.  I  walk  over  the  hummocks  or  ice 
floes,  and  am  oppressed  with  perspiration 
and  lassitude.  This  at  a  temperature  of 
zero  in  the  shade,  and  +11°  in  the  sun!     I 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     299 

can  not  realize  it.  To-day  the  thermometer 
gave  -|-10°  in  the  shade  of  the  ship,  obviously 
affected  not  a  little  by  radiation,  +34°  in  the 
sun  over  the  ship's  painted  side,  -f-13°  by 
my  own  observation  of  an  instrument  sus- 
pended at  a  distance  from  the  ship,  and  un- 
der the  same  circumstances  in  the  shade, 
zero!  Yet  the  day  seemed  spring-like  and 
delicious.  The  early  breezes  (8  a.m.)  from 
the  southeast  came  with  a  sensation  of  reviv- 
ing coolness,  although  to  their  warmth  we 
perhaps  owed  our  sensations  of  pleasant  heat. 
While  I  am  writing,  the  skaters  come  in  to 
say  that  'it  is  too  warm  to  skate:'  yet  the  sun 
is  low,  and  my  shade  thermometer  gives 
some  ten  degrees  below  the  point  of  freez- 
ing. 

"I  have  often  alluded  to  this  discrepancy 
between  our  feelings  and  the  recorded  tem- 
perature. I  have  read  of  the  same  thing  in 
the  Arctic  voyages,  with  a  reference  to  con- 
trast for  the  explanation.  But  I  never  until 
to-day  realized  so  fully  that  we  were  warmed 
from  within  by  a  mysterious,  and,  I  must  be- 
lieve, unknown  system  of  functional  com- 
pensation.    I   wish   Liebig   could   make   a 


300     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Polar  voyage !  As  you  feel  open- windowed 
at  the  first  breaking-in  day  of  spring,  with 
your  thermometers  at  vernal  60°,  so  feel  I 
with  the  thermometer  at  zero! 

''April  10,  Thursday,  2  p.m.  The  south- 
easter blows  on  with  steady  endurance.  It 
is  now  east  by  south;  a  snow-storm  remind- 
ing me  of  home,  so  soft  and  flalc^,  drifting 
every  where;  and  the  thermometer  rising 
steadily  to  +32°  at  noonday.  Once  more  at 
the  freezing  point!  it  seems  hard  to  realize. 
The  decks  are  wet,  the  housing  dripping,  the 
snow  adhesive  and  slushy. 

"9  P.M.  The  gale  continues.  Our  ther- 
mometer outside  at  a  maximum  of  +33°. 
Every  thing  wet,  warm,  and  summer-like. 

"I  have  a  story  to  tell — a  foolish  adven- 
ture; but  I  was  ennuied  past  all  bearing. 
Walking  the  deck,  beast-like,  in  our  damp 
cage,  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  would  climb 
the  rigging.  Climb  the  rigging  I  did;  and, 
by  a  glimpse  between  the  long  wreaths  of 
drift,  saw  Water!  The  temptation  was  a 
sore  one:  I  yielded  to  it,  came  down  from 
my  perch,  donned  mj^  sealskin,  shouldered 
my  carbine,  and  walked  off  with  my  face  to- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     301 

ward  the  wonder.  None  of  the  crew  would 
accompany  me:  my  messmates  did  not  vol- 
unteer: so  I  was  alone. 

"It  was  a  walk  to  be  remembered.  Snow 
up  to  the  neck ;  drift  moist  and  blinding ;  and 
a  gale,  luckily  not  a  cold  one,  in  my  face. 
But  after  a  mile  of  such  promenading  as  no 
other  region  can  boast  of,  I  reached  the 
water  at  last.  Water  it  was ;  dark,  surging 
water;  no  pellicles  of  glazing  ice;  no  sludgy 
streams  of  pancake;  but  the  liquid  element 
itself,  such  as  we  saw  last  summer,  and  you 
see  every  day,  stretching  out  as  broad  as  the 
Delaware,  and  in  contrast  with  the  snow  at 
its  margin  as  black  as  Styx. 

"I  took  a  good  look  at  it,  and  turned  to 
come  back.  The  wind  had  wiped  out  my 
footsteps :  all  within  the  horizon  was  a  waste 
of  sleet.  I  had  neither  compass  nor  signal 
pole  to  show  me  the  way ;  but  I  kept  the  gale 
behind  me,  and  waded  onward.  I  do  not 
know  how  far  I  might  have  traveled  before 
reaching  the  vessel;  but  I  had  buffeted  the 
elements  quite  long  enough  to  content  me, 
when  I  heard  Captain  Griffin  hailing  me 
through  the  drift.     He  had  been  uneasy  at 


'302     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

my  stay,  and  was  out  in  search  of  me.  We 
took  a  new  departure  together,  wxre  blo^\Ti 
over  a  few  times,  and  tumbled  over,  no  mat- 
ter how  often ;  but  we  hit  the  ships  to  a  notch. 

"This  crack  is  the  old  transverse  one  from 
northeast  to  southwest,  off  the  Rescue  s  port 
beam.  The  gale,  with  such  a  temperature, 
must  be  achieving  much  upon  the  ice  to  the 
southward.  It  can  hardly  reach  men  so  im- 
bedded as  we  are ;  but  it  may  so  break  up  the 
southern  edge  of  the  pack  as  to  give  us  a 
ready  drift,  should  we  have  a  favoring  wind. 
As  it  is,  we  are  undoubtedly  flicking  it  to 
the  north  again. 

"April  15.  The  sun  perceptibly  warmer, 
and  the  indications  of  thaw  unequivocal. 
To  guard  as  far  as  we  can  against  the  chance 
of  the  two  vessels  being  separated  among 
the  floes  when  the  general  break-up  comes, 
we  began  a  trench  to-day  from  one  to  the 
other.  It  goes  down  through  the  snow  to 
the  solid  ice ;  and  we  are  going  to  strew  rock- 
salt  in  it,  remembering  that  even  a  slight 
scratch  on  the  surface  will  determine  the 
line  of  fracture.  We  will  try  it  at  any  rate, 
even  across  the  entire  floe  to  the  present  seat 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     303 

of  hummocking  at  the  open  water,  though 
it  is  a  distance  of  nearly  or  quite  two  miles. 
We  are  looking  to  our  approaching  disrup- 
tion with  absorbing  interest;  and  whether 
our  theories  are  good  or  bad,  they  give  us 
something  to  think  and  talk  about.  Our 
ice-cutting  machine  belongs  to  the  same  fam- 
ily. We  finished  it  to-day,  and  it  will  be 
tested  to-morrow. 

"The  ice  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fire- 
hole  is  wet  and  overflowed.  It  seems  to  be 
depressed  below  the  water-level.  The  snow 
has  piled  up  some  seven  or  eight  feet  high 
on  the  vessel's  side,  and  this,  with  the  radiat- 
ing heat,  may  possibly  explain  this  depres- 
sion. But  I  am  strongly  inchned  to  believe 
in  endosmotic  actions  in  the  ice. 

"Apiil  16.  To-day  the  salting  continues. 
The  men  call  it  our  spring-seed  sowing.  On 
board  the  Fescue,  a  party  are  at  work  pre- 
paring for  the  return  to  her.  The  ice-cut- 
ting machine  proves  a  failure. 

"This  afternoon  a  solitary  snow-bunting 
was  seen  flitting  around  our  vessel.  The 
last  time  we  saw  this  little  animal  was  at 
Griffith's  Island,  in  the  midst  of  the  terrible 


304     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

storm  which  we  were  sharing  with  our  Eng- 
lish brethren.  Goodsir  saw  the  same  bird 
on  the  13th,  in  latitude  54° ;  but  he  was  not 
at  Winter  Island  till  the  27th.  Since  then, 
the  little  family  have  made  their  migratory 
journey,  and  are  now  on  their  way  again  to 
these  Polar  seas.  They  breed  seldom  or 
never  south  of  62°,  and  linger  late  among 
the  Northern  snows.  This  poor  little  wan- 
derer was  an  estray  from  his  fellows.  He 
paused  at  the  treasures  which  surrounded 
our  ship,  refreshed  himself  from  our  dirt 
pile,  and  then  flew  away  again  on  his  weary 
journey. 

"April  17.  A  memorable  day.  We  put 
out  our  cabin  lamps,  and  are  henceforward 
content  with  daylight,  like  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Our  latitude  is  69°  52';  om-  longi- 
tude, 63°  03'. 

"This  afternoon,  while  walking  deck,  this 
endless  deck,  with  IMurdaugh,  we  discovered 
a  bear  walking  tranquilly  alongside,  nearly 
within  gunshot.  We  have  lost  so  manj^  op- 
portunities by  the  bustle  and  ignorance  of 
a  universal  chase,  that  I  crawled  out  to  at- 
tack him  alone.     To  my  sorrow,  the  bi-ute, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     305 

who  had  been  gazing  at  the  ship  dog-fashion 
and  curious,  turned  tail.  He  was  out  of 
range  for  my  carbine,  but  I  gave  him  the 
ball  as  he  ran  in  his  right  hind-quarter.  He 
fell  at  once,  and  I  thought  him  secure;  but 
rising  instantly,  he  turned  upon  his  wounded 
haunch,  and,  very  much  as  a  dog  does  at  a 
bee-sting,  bit  spasmodically  at  the  wound. 
For  a  little  while  he  spun  round,  biting  the 
bloody  spot  with  a  short,  probing  nip;  and 
then,  before  I  could  reload  my  piece,  started 
off  at  a  limping  but  rapid  gait.  I  mention 
this  movement  on  account  of  the  very  cu- 
rious fact  which  follows.  The  animal  had 
found  the  ball,  seized  it  between  the  incisors, 
and  eoctracted  it.  The  bullet  is  now  in  my 
possession,  distinctly  marked  by  his  teeth. 

"After  a  very  tedious  and  harassing  pur- 
suit, I  came  uj)  to  him  at  the  young  ice. 
He  stood  upon  the  brink  of  the  lead.  I  was 
within  long  shot,  and  about  to  make  prep- 
arations for  a  more  deliberate  and  certain 
aim,  when  he  took  to  the  water,  and  then 
to  the  opposite  young  ice,  bleeding  and 
dropping  every  few  yards. 

"Joined    by   Daly,    a    bold,    bull-headed 


306     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Irishman,  I  crossed  by  a  circuitous  channel, 
and  then  took  to  the  young  ice  myself,  and 
tried  to  run  him  down.  It  was  very  excit- 
ing; and  I  fear  I  was  not  as  prudent  as  I 
ought  to  have  been;  for  a  dense  fog  had 
gathered  around  us,  and  the  young  floe,  level 
as  the  sea  which  it  covered,  was  but  two 
nights  old.  The  bear  f eU  several  times ;  and 
at  last,  poor  fellow,  dragged  himself  by  his 
fore  feet,  trailing  his  hind  quarters  over  the 
incrusted  snow,  so  as  to  leave  a  long  black 
imprint  stained  by  blood. 

"The  fog  was  getting  more  and  more 
dense,  and  the  frail  ice — we  were  now  walk- 
ing, as  it  were,  over  the  sea  itself — bent  un- 
der us  so  much,  that  I,  like  a  prudent  man, 
ordered  a  return.  This  chase  cost  us  at  least 
ten  miles  of  journey,  part  of  it  at  an  Indian 
trot.     We  dripped  like  men  in  a  steam  bath. 

"April  20,  Sunday.  Daly  started  with  a 
company  of  sailors  after  the  wounded  bear. 
They  walked,  by  their  own  account,  six  miles 
before  they  found  him.  He  was  unable  to 
retreat — stood  at  bay;  and  the  fools  were 
so  scared  at  his  'growhngs'  and  his  'bloody 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    307 

tongue,'  that  they  returned  without  daring 
to  attack  him. 

"April  21,  Monday.  I  have  more  than 
common  cause  for  thankfulness.  A  mere 
accident  kept  me  from  starting  last  night  to 
secure  our  bear.  Had  I  done  so,  I  would 
probably  have  spared  you  reading  more  of 
my  journal.  The  ice  over  which  we  traveled 
so  carelessly  on  Saturday  has  become,  by  a 
sudden  movement,  a  mass  of  floating  rub- 
bish. An  open  river,  broader  than  the  Dela- 
ware, is  now  between  the  old  ice  and  the 
nearest  part  of  the  new,  over  which  I  walked 
on  the  19th  more  than  three  miles. 

"In  the  walk  of  this  morning,  which  star- 
tled me  with  the  change,  I  saw  for  the  first 
time  a  seal  upon  the  ice.  This  looks  veiy 
summer-like.  He  was  not  accessible  to  our 
guns.  To-day,  for  the  first  time  too,  the 
gulls  were  flying  over  the  renovated  water. 
Coming  back  we  saw  fresh  bear  tracks. 
How  wonderful  is  the  adaptation  which  en- 
ables a  quadruped,  to  us  associated  insepa- 
rably with  a  land  existence,  thus  to  inhabit  an 
ice-covered  ocean.     We  are  at  least  eighty 


308     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

miles  from  the  nearest  land,  Cape  Kater; 
and  channels  innmnerable  must  intervene 
between  us  and  terra  firma.  Yet  this  ma- 
jestic animal,  dependent  upon  his  own  pred- 
atory resources  alone,  and,  defying  cold  as 
well  as  hunger,  guided  by  a  superb  instinct, 
confides  himself  to  these  solitary,  unstable 
ice-fields. 

"Parry,  in  his  adventurous  Polar  effort, 
found  these  animals  at  the  most  northern 
limit  of  recorded  observation.  Wrangell 
had  them  as  companions  on  his  first  Asiatic 
journey  over  the  Polar  ocean.  Navigators 
have  found  them  also  floating  upon  berg  and 
floe  far  out  in  open  sea;  and  here  we  have 
them  in  a  region  some  seventy  miles  from  the 
nearest  stable  ice.  They  have  seldom,  or, 
as  far  as  my  readings  go,  never — if  we  ex- 
cept Parry's  Spitzbergen  experience — been 
seen  so  far  from  land.  In  the  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  they  seem  to  have  been  ac- 
cidentally caught  and  carried  adrift  on  dis- 
engaged ice-floes.  In  this  way  they  travel 
to  Iceland ;  and  it  may  have  been  so  perhaps 
with  the  Spitzbergen  instances.  Others 
have  been  reported  thirty  miles  from  shore 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     309 

in  this  bay.     I  myself  noticed  them  fifty 
miles  from  the  Greenland  coast  last  July. 

"There  is  something  very  grand  about  this 
tawny  savage;  never  leaving  this  utter  des- 
titution, this  frigid  inhospitableness — cou- 
pling in  May,  and  bringing  forth  in  Christ- 
mas time — a  gestation  carried  on  all  of  it  be- 
low zero,  more  than  half  of  it  in  Arctic  dark- 
ness— living  in  perpetual  snow,  and  depend- 
ent for  life  upon  a  never-ending  activity — 
using  the  frozen  water  as  a  raft  to  traverse 
the  open  seas,  that  the  water  unfrozen  may 
yield  him  the  means  of  life.  No  time  for 
hibernation  has  this  Polar  tiger:  his  life  is 
one  great  winter." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


A 


"  A  PJ^II^  22.  The  past  week  has 
been  one  of  dismantling,  rub- 
bish-creating, ship-cleaning  tor- 
ment. First,  bull's-eyes  were 
inserted  in  the  deck ;  and  the  black  felt  hous- 
ing, so  comfortable  in  the  winter  darkness, 
but  that  now  shut  out  the  sunlight  like  a 
great  pall,  was  triced  up  fore  and  aft,  re- 
maining only  amidships.  Next,  the  Besciie, 
with  her  new  bowsprit  in,  received  her  crew 
and  officers.  They  slept  on  board  last  night 
for  the  first  time,  but  still  walk  over  the  ice 
to  their  meals. 

"Wlien  I  saw  the  little  brig  through  the 
darkness,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  13th  of 
January,  moving  slowly  past  us  and  losing 
herself  in  the  gloom,  while  sounds  like  artil- 
lery mingled  with  the  shrieking,  howling, 
and  crashing  of  the  ice,  as  the  great  ridges 
rose  and  fell — and  when  the  India-rubber 
boat  was  launched,  and  the  men  took  their 

310 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     311 

knapsacks,  and  old  Brooks  called  out  to  us 
to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  rigging,  believ- 
ing the  brig  about  to  topple  over — I  did  not 
think  there  would  be  a  spring-time  for  the 
Rescue. 

"We  are  now  in  the  midst  of  those  intes- 
tine changes  which  characterize  the  house- 
cleanings  at  home.  The  disgusting  lamps 
have  done  smoking,  the  hatches  are  allowed 
to  look  out  at  the  sun,  and  the  galley,  with 
its  perpetual  odors,  is  banished  to  the  hur- 
ricane-house on  deck.  That  peculiar  inter- 
space between  the  coal  and  the  'purser's 
slops,'  so  dark  and  full  of  head-bmnping 
beams,  exults  in  the  full  glare  of  day. 
What  ri  wonderful  hole  we  have  been  exist- 
ing in!  It,  the  half-deck,  as  it  is  called  on 
board  ship,  is  three  feet  six  inches  high,  by 
fourteen  feet  long  and  seventeen  broad. 
On  it,  forgetful  of  precedence  and  rank,  our 
bedding  separated  from  the  loose  planking 
by  a  canvas  cot  frame,  slept  Murdaugh, 
Vreeland,  Brooks,  De  Haven,  two  cooks, 
and  Dr.  Kane.  The  last-named  came  on 
board  last,  and  found,  though  he  is  not  a 
very  large  man,  a  sufficiently  narrow  kennel 


312     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

between  the  companion-ladder  and  the  din- 
ner-table. Our  clothing,  as  it  now  wel- 
comed the  sun,  was  black  with  lamp-soot; 
the  beams  above  fringed,  and  festooned,  and 
wreathed  with  the  same.  My  bed-coverings, 
frozen  over  the  feet  in  the  winter,  are  bathed 
with  inky  water.  But  all  this  is  to  be  re- 
moved to-day;  and  we  go  back  to  the  lux- 
uries of  bunks,  and  daylight,  and  a  long 
breath. 

"The  day  was  bright  and  sunny.  I 
walked  out  to  the  open  water.  Marks  of 
commotion,  hummock  ridges,  and  chasms. 
A  new  feature  was  the  thaw.  Heretofore 
I  could  stand  upon  the  brink  of  the  cleanly- 
separated  fissures,  and  look  down  u23on  the 
bleak  water  as  securely  as  from  a  quartz 
rock.  To-day  eveiy  thing  around  (pshaw! 
the  snow  and  ice,  I  mean;  we  have  no  things 
here)  was  wet  and  crumbling.  The  snow 
covered  deceitfully  some  very  dangerous 
cracks:  in  one  of  these  I  sunk  neck  deep. 
My  carbine  caught  across  it,  and  Holmes 
pulled  me  out. 

"We  are  very  anxious  to  obtain  fresh 
meat  for  the  invalids.     Indeed,  our  longing 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     313 

for  something  fresh  is  itself  a  disease.  To- 
day a  tantahzing  seal  kept  me  prostrate 
upon  the  slushy  ice  for  an  hour  and  a  half. 
In  spite  of  all  my  seal  craft,  the  prime  secret 
of  which  is  patience,  I  could  not  draw  him 
into  gunshot.  With  the  characteristic  curi- 
osity of  his  tribe,  the  poor  animal  would  rise 
breast  high  to  inspect  my  fur  cap.  Pres- 
ently a  whale  spouted,  and  off  he  went. 

"The  decks  are  clear!  the  barrels  stowed 
away  below,  the  fore-peak  restored,  the  old 
bunks  reoccupied,  and  my  messmates  snooz- 
ing away  as  in  old  times,  a  fire  burning  in  the 
stove,  and  lard  lamps  flaming  away  vigor- 
ously upon  my  paper.  Daylight  still  finds 
its  way  down  the  hatch,  although  it  is  eleven 
o'clock. 

''April  24,  Thursday.  The  snow  falls  in 
loose,  flaky,  home  feathers.  The  decks  are 
wet,  and  the  misty  air  has  the  peculiar 
ground-glass  translucency  which  I  noticed 
last  summer.  When  I  came  up  before 
breakfast  to  look  around,  the  thermometer 
gave  +32°,  the  familiar  temperatm-e  of  old 
times:  to  me  it  was  warm  and  sultry. 

"The  season  of  summer,  if  not  now  upon 


314     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

us,  is  close  at  hand.  It  seems  but  yester- 
day that  we  hailed  the  dawning  daj^  and 
burned  oui-  fingers  in  the  frozen  mercury; 
now  we  have  a  summer  snow-storm  at  32°. 

"This  little  table  will  show  you  how 
stealthily  and  how  rapidly  summer  has 
trampled  down  winter: 

Mean  temperature  for  week  ending  March  14th, 
—23°  94'. 

Mean  temperature  for  week  ending  March  21st, 
— 9°  07';  gain,  14°  87'. 

Mean  temperature  for  ^v^ek  ending  March  28th, 
— 16°  90';  loss,  7°  83'. 

Mean  temperature  for  week  ending  April  4th,  — 4° 
31';  gain,  12°  39'. 

Mean  temperature  for  week  ending  April  11th,  +8° 
59';  gain,  12°  90'. 

Mean  temperature  for  week  ending  April  18th, 
+9°  55';  gain,  0°  55' . 

Mean  temperature  for  five  days  ending  April  23d, 
+  14°  56';  gain,  5°  01'. 

"Changes  show  themselves  in  the  config- 
uration of  the  snow  surfaces.  The  hum- 
mocks seem  already  to  have  diminished  by 
evaporation.  They  are  less  angular,  and 
blend  in  rounder  hues  with  the  snow  drifts. 
Night  has  gone.     I  see  still  at  midnight  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     315 

circumpolar  stars,  and  Jupiter,  in  his 
splendor,  on  the  eastern  sky ;  but  I  can  read 
at  midnight. 

"April  25,  Friday.  Walked  to  open 
water  to  the  northeast.  The  snow  is  melted 
through  the  crust.  I  sink  up  to  my  knees. 
Saw  the  tracks  of  a  fox,  very  recent.  The 
little  fellow  had  come  from  the  direction  of 
the  poor  wounded  bear,  now  cut  off  from  us 
by  the  broken  ice,  swimming  the  lead  at  its 
narrowest  crossing,  some  fifteen  paces.  So 
long  as  his  patron  could  have  supi)lied  him 
with  food,  the  little  j^arasite  would  not  have 
left  him.  It  may  be  that  the  bear  has  per- 
ished from  inabihty  to  hunt  for  both. 

"Saw  a  right  whale!  Saw  also  a  large 
flock  of  geese  at  9  a.m.,  winging  their  way 
to  the  northward,  and  flying  very  low. 
They  were  so  irregular  in  their  order  of 
flight,  that  I  would  have  taken  them  for 
ducks — the  Somateria;  but  my  messmates 
say  geese. 

"April  26,  Saturday.  One  of  the  changes 
which  we  must  expect  has  brought  back  to 
us  comparative  winter.  Yesterday  gave  us 
a    noonday    and    morning   temperature    of 


316     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

+28^  It  is  now  (10  p.m.)  -9°.  It  was 
—7°  at  noonday,  with  a  bright,  clear  sun- 
shine. The  change  is  due  to  a  northerly 
wind.  It  has  blown  steadily  throughout  the 
day  from  northwest  by  north.  We  hope 
much  from  it  in  the  way  of  drift.  Our  lat- 
itude was  69°  40'  42''  N.;  our  longitude,  63° 
08'  46"  W. 

"The  wind  change  has  given  us  no  new 
ruptures.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  have  shut  up 
the  environing  'leads'  around  us.  This  may 
be  a  good  preface  to  a  squeeze ;  for  I  can  see 
no  water  from  the  mast-head. 

"The  stars  at  midnight  remind  me  of  our 
Lancaster  Sound  noondays.  The  peculiar 
zone  of  fairly  blended  light,  stretching  over 
an  amplitude  of  some  seventy  degrees — the 
colors  red,  Indian  red,  Italian  pink,  with 
the  yellows;  and  then  a  light  cobalt,  gradu- 
ally deepening  into  intense  indigo  as  it 
reaches  the  northern  horizon. 

''April  27,  Sunday.  The  cold  increases, 
and  our  northwest  wind  continues.  The 
day's  observation  gives  us  69°  35'  50",  so 
that  we  still  go  south  encouragingly,  though 
slowly.     This  big  floe  is  so  solid,  that  some 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     317 

of  us  are  beginning  to  fear  it  may  resist  the 
pressure,  and  not  break  up  in  the  bay ;  leav- 
ing us  to  the  thaws  of  summer  and  the 
stormy  winds  of  September  before  our  im- 
prisonment ceases.  The  apprehension  has 
no  mirth  in  it. 

"Walked  to  the  open  water  to  the  north- 
ward, nearly  ahead  of  us.  The  leads  were 
so  frozen  over  as  to  bear  me.  Looking 
across  the  level,  letting  my  eyes  wander  from 
tussock  to  tussock  of  entangled  floe-ice,  as 
they  had  grouiDed  themselves  in  freezing,  I 
heard  the  blowing  of  a  narwhal,  followed  by 
the  peculiar  swash  of  squeezing  ice.  A 
short  walk  showed  me  some  six  or  eight  con- 
ical elevations,  forced  upward  upon  the  re- 
centty-formed  ice,  evidently  by  a  force  pro- 
truding from  beneath.  While  looking  at 
these,  the  sounds,  though  seemingly  further 
off,  increased  to  such  a  degree  that  I  w^as 
convinced  the  ice  was  in  action,  and  started 
off  to  double  a  cape  of  hummocks  and  see 
the  commotion.  Our  steward,  Morton,  a 
shrewd,  observant  fellow,  who  was  with  me, 
suddenly  called  out,  'Look  here,  sir — here!' 

"Each  of  these  httle  cones  was  steaming 


318     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

like  the  salices  or  mud-volcanoes  of  Mexico, 
the  broken  ice  on  top  vibrating,  and  every 
now  and  then  tumbling,  as  if  by  some  pul- 
satory movement  below.  Presentl}^,  in  one 
concerted  diapason,  a  group  of  narwhals, 
imj)risoned  by  the  congelation  of  the  open- 
ing,* s^DOuted  their  release,  scattering  spray 
and  snow  in  every  direction.  I  was  not  more 
than  three  yards  from  the  nearest  cone;  yet 
I  could  see  nothing  of  the  animal  except  this 
jet. 

"The  noise  was  so  great  that  I  could 
hardly  make  the  steward  hear  me.  It  had, 
moreover,  more  of  voice  mingled  with  its 
sibilant  'blow'  than  I  had  ever  heard — a  dis- 
tinct and  somewhat  metallic  tone,  thrown 
out  impulsively,  and  yet  with  the  crescendo 
and  diminuendo  of  an  expiration.  Accord- 
ing to  the  views  of  some  systematic  natural- 
ists, the  cetacea  have,  strictly  speaking,  no 
voice.  This  opinion  admits  of  much  modifi- 
cation. The  white  whale  in  Welhngton 
Sound  whistled  while  submerged  and  swim- 

*  I  found  afterward  from  the  Danes  that  they  assemble  iii 
this  way  when  extensh^e  areas  are  frozen.  Mr.  Moldrup, 
of  Godhaven,  mentions  fifty  being  killed  at  one  of  these 
congregations. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     319 

ming  under  our  brig;  and,  in  the  present 
singular  case,  the  ejaculatory  character  of 
the  tone  sounded  hke  a  gigantic  bark.* 

"'May  1,  Thursday.  A  httle  before  ten 
this  morning,  the  sun  showed  ahnost  half  its 
disk  above  the  snow  horizon,  with  his  usual 
apf)anage  of  pearly  opals  and  mellowed  fire 
displayed  about  the  southern  heavens.  At 
noon  I  walked  out  in  the  full  glare,  twenty- 
five  degrees  above  the  freezing-point  on  my 
face,  and  about  as  many  below  it  on  my  back 
— a  May-day  frolic  in  the  snow!  The  crisp 
covering,  over  wliich  I  used  to  skim  along  a 
few  weeks  ago,  broke  through  with  me  at 
every  step.  It  was  just  strong  enough  to 
tantalize  and  deceive.  Never,  in  the  warm- 
est days  of  summer  harvest-time,  have  I  felt 
the  heat  so  much  as  on  this  Arctic  May-day ; 
and  yet  no  life,  no  organization  carried  me 
back  to  the  spring-time  of  reviving  nature. 

*  On  this  occasion,  I  heard  the  white  whale  singing  under 
water — a  peculiar  note  between  the  whistle  and  the  Tyrolean 
yodel.  Our  men  compared  it  to  the  Jew's-harp.  Once,  off 
Cape  James,  it  was  so  loud  that  we  heard  it  in  the  cabin, 
as  if  proceeding  from  the  cable-tier.  I  have  often,  in  my 
walks  over  the  ice-openings,  been  startled  by  the  resem- 
blance between  the  sudden  spout  of  a  near  narwhal  and  the 
bark  of  an  animal. 


320     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Even  the  tinnitus  of  the  idle  ear,  that  inner 
droning  that  sings  to  you  in  the  silent  sun- 
shine at  home,  was  wanting.  In  fact,  the 
silentness  was  so  complete,  and  the  reflec- 
tion from  the  snow  so  excessive,  though  I  had 
a  gi'een  rag  over  my  face,  that  when  I  got 
far  away,  and  out  of  sight  of  every  thing 
but  the  interminable  ice,  it  made  me  feel  as 
if  the  world  I  left  you  in  and  the  world  about 
me  were  not  exactly  parts  of  the  same  planet. 

"And  so  I  traveled  back  to  my  sick  men. 
God  bless  us !  here  are  old  Blinn,  and  Carter, 
and  Wilson,  all  on  my  list  for  fainting  spells : 
the  same  scurvy  syncope  our  officers  com- 
plain of.  Caj)tain  Griffin  fainted  dead 
away,  and  Lovell  complains  of  strange  feel- 
ings. We  need  fresh  food  sorely.  I 
hardly  think  any  organized  expedition  to 
these  regions  was  ever  so  completely  de- 
prived of  anti-scorbutic  diet  as  we  are  at  this 
time. 

"Midnight.  My  old  scurvy  symptoms,  it 
may  be,  that  keep  me  from  sleeping.  But 
I  write  by  the  light  of  the  sun ;  and  it  really 
seems  to  me  that  there  is  a  something  about 
this   persistent   day   antagonistic   to   sleep. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     321 

The  idea  thrust  itself  upon  me  last  summer. 
Thinking  the  fact  over  afterward,  I  re- 
ferred it  to  habit,  acting  unphilosophically, 
as  it  is  apt  to  do;  and  concluded  that  my 
sleeplessness  was  not  connected  directly  with 
the  augmented  or  continued  light.  But  this 
is  not  so.  I  neither  get  to  sleep  so  easily  nor 
sleep  as  long,  nor,  indeed,  do  I  seem  to  need 
the  same  quantity  of  sleep  as  when  we  had 
the  alternation  of  light  and  darkness.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  think  our  long  Arctic  night 
solicited  a  more  than  common  ration  of  the 
same  restorative  blessing,  though  my  journal 
has  shown  you  that  our  waking  energies  dur- 
ing that  period  were  not  so  heavily  taxed 
as  to  require  more  than  their  usual  intermis- 
sion." 

The  day  after  this  entry  superadded  the 
visitation  of  snow  blindness  to  our  trials. 
Four  of  the  party  were  attacked  severely, 
myself  among  the  rest;  so  severely,  indeed, 
as  to  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  write,  and, 
what  was  much  more  important  in  the  estima- 
tion of  our  scurvy  patients,  impossible  for  me 
to  hunt.  The  brief  notes  which  were  made  in 
my  journal  by  the  kindness  of  a  brother  of- 


322     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ficer  speak  of  our  sensible  approach  toward 
a  final  disengagement  from  the  ice-field. 
Though  the  winds  were  generally  from  the 
southwest,  our  drift  tended  very  plainly  to 
the  south:  in  one  day,  we  reduced  our  lati- 
tude eighteen  miles,  passing  at  the  same  time 
nearly  a  degree  of  longitude,  twenty-two 
miles  to  the  east.  The  ice,  too,  was  becom- 
ing more  infiltrated,  and  the  heavy  snow- 
banks that  surrounded  our  vessel  were  sat- 
urated with  water.  Spring  was  doing  its 
office. 


,1 


CUTTING  OUTj   BIAY,   1851. 


46 


O 


CHAPTER  XIX 

N  the  11th,  I  was  well  enough,  or 
imprudent  enough,  to  attempt  a 
seal  hunt.  Our  mean  tempera- 
ture had  sunk  to  19°  5\  and  the 
snow-crust  was  strong  enough  to  bear.  A 
gale  had  swept  away  the  loose,  fleecy  drifts 
of  the  fortnight  before,  exposing  the  familiar 
surface  of  the  older  snow.  I  walked  over 
it  as  I  did  in  April. 

"Reaching  the  seat  of  the  open  water  to 

323 


3245     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  northward,  I  found  it  closed  by  young 
ice,  an  extensive  surface  frail  and  unsafe. 
About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  edge  of 
the  old  floe,  almost  in  the  centre  of  this  re- 
cent lead,  was  a  seal.  The  temptations  of 
the  flesh  were  too  much  for  me :  I  ventured 
the  ice,  crawled  on  my  belly,  and  reached 
long-shot  distance. 

"The  animal  thus  laboriously  stalked  was 
large;  a  hirsute,  bearded  fellow,  with  the 
true  plantigrade  countenance.  All  his 
senses  were  devoted  to  enjoyment:  he  wal- 
lowed in  the  sludge,  stretched  out  in  the  sun- 
shine, played  \^^ith  his  flijDpers,  lying  on  his 
back,  much  as  a  heavy  horse  does  in  a  skin- 
loosening  roU.  I  rose  to  fire — and  down  he 
went.  An  unseen  hole  had  received  him:  a 
lesson  for  future  occasions.  This  hole  was 
critically  circular,  beveled  from  the  under 
surface,  and  symmetrically  embanked  round 
with  the  pulpacious  material  which  he  had 
excavated  from  the  ice. 

"Crawling  back  less  actively  than  I  had 
approached,  my  carbine  arm  broke  through, 
carrying  my  gun  and  it  up  to  the  shoulder. 
It  was  very  well,  all  things  considered,  that 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     325 

my  body  did  not  follow ;  for  I  was  on  a  very 
rotten  shell,  and  nearly  two  miles  from  the 
brigs,  alone. 

"Wednesday,  12.  For  the  last  fortnight, 
our  ice-saw,  under  ^lurdaugh's  supervision, 
has  been  hard  at  work.  To-day  we  have  a 
trench  opened  to  our  gangway. 

"The  ice  shows  the  advancing  season.  It 
is  no  longer  splintery  and  quartz-like,  spawl- 
ing  off  under  the  axe  in  dangerous  little 
chips ;  but  sodden,  infiltrated  ice,  such  as  we 
see  in  our  ice-houses.  The  water  has  got 
into  its  centre,  and  the  crow-bars,  after  the 
sawing  out,  break  it  readily  up  for  hauling 
upon  the  field.  The  process  is  this :  First, 
we  cut  two  parallel  tracks,  four  feet  asunder, 
through  six  and  five  feet  ice,  with  a  ten-foot 
saw;  then  lozenged  diagonals;  then  straps 
(ropes)  are  passed  around  the  fragments, 
and  a  block  and  line,  nautice  jigger,  or 
watch  tackle,  made  fast  to  the  bowsprit, 
hauls  the  lumps  upon  the  floe,  where  they 
are  broken  up  by  the  ice  bars.  A  formid- 
able barricade  of  dirty  ice,  about  the  size  and 
shape  of  gneiss  building  stones,  is  already  in- 
closing our  vessel.     Many  a  poor  fellow  has 


326     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

had  an  involuntary  slide-bath  into  the  freez- 
ing mixture  alongside;  but  in  most  cases 
without  unj^leasant  consequences." 

I  remember  only  one  serious  exception. 
It  was  that  of  our  heroine  of  the  Thespian 
corps,  Jim  Smith.  The  mimediate  result 
for  him  was  an  attack  of  scurv^^,  so  marked, 
yet  so  blended  with  the  active  symptoms  be- 
longing to  arthritic  disease,  as  to  incline  me 
to  an  opinion  for  the  time  that  there  may  be 
such  a  thing  as  acute  scur\y,  or  a  sudden  in- 
flammatory sthenic  action,  whose  character- 
istics are  scorbutic.  He  had  immediately 
stitch,  dyspnoea,  pains  in  the  back  and  joints, 
and  in  the  alveolar  and  extensor  muscles, 
just  as  in  his  previous  attacks  of  scurvy,  but 
without  fever.  The  day  after,  he  was  so  dis- 
tressed by  his  stitch,  that  I  feared  pleuritis. 
On  looking  at  his  shins,  I  found  large  pur- 
puric blotches,  which  were  not  there  a  week 
before.  I  commenced  the  anti-scorbutic  tyr- 
anny at  once;  and  the  next  morning  his 
gums  bled  freely,  his  pains  left  him,  and  he 
took  his  place  again  at  the  ice-saw. 

"Several  laridge  flew  about  us:  I  heard 
them  to-day  for  the  second  time — pleasant 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     327 

tones,  with  all  their  discord.  Do  you  re- 
member the  skylark's  song,  'a  dropping 
from  the  sky,'  in  the  'Ancient  Mariner'?  I 
thought  of  it  this  morning  when  the  gulls 
screeched  over  our  motionless  brig. 

''Maij  18,  Sunday.  First,  of  late,  in  my 
daily  records  is  this  glorious  wind,  still  from 
the  northwest,  fresh  and  steady.  It  is,  as 
is  every  thing  else  for  that  matter,  a  God- 
send. To-day's  observation  places  us  but 
thirty-two  miles  from  Cape  Searle,  and 
seventy  from  Cape  Walsingham,  the  abut- 
ting gates  of  Davis'  Straits,  where  the  chan- 
nel is  at  its  narrowest,  and  where  our  im- 
prisonment ought  to  end. 

"This  welcome  wind- visitor  is  still  fresh- 
ening: it  is  not  perpetrating,  I  hope,  an  ex- 
tra brilliancy  before  its  conge. 

"I  found  to-day  a  rough  caricature  draw- 
ing by  one  of  the  men :  some  of  the  mess  call 
it  a  portrait  of  myself.  By-the-way,  sup- 
pose I  tell  you  of  my  latest  rig?  Here  it 
is.  A  long  musket  on  shoulder ;  a  bear  knife 
in  the  leg  of  the  left  boot ;  a  rim  of  wolfskin 
around  my  head,  leaving  the  bare  scalp  with 
its  liairs'  open  to  the  breeze;  rough  Guern- 


328     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 


sey  frock,  overlined  by  a  red  flannel  shirt, 
in  honor  of  the  day  on  which  thou  shalt  do 
no  labor;  legs  in  sailor 
pants  of  pilot  cloth,  slop- 
shop cut;  feet  in  seal- 
liide  socks  or  buskins, 
of  Esquimaux  fabric 
and  Esquimaux  smell; 
a  pair  of  crimson  wool- 
en mittens,  which  com- 
menced their  career  as 
a  neck  comforter;  and 
a  little  green  rag,  the 
snow  veil,  fluttering  over 
a  weather-beaten  face: 
place  all  this,  for  want 
of  a  better  lay  figure,  on 
your  brother  of  the  Arctic  squadron. 

"With  a  delicacy  which  may  possibly  do 
me  discredit,  I  have  never  before  alluded  to 
the  garniture  of  my  outer  man.  I  may  as 
well  tell  the  truth  at  once.  We  are  an  un- 
couth, snobby,  and  withal,  shabby- looking 
set  of  varlets.  Uillustre  Bertrand  would 
be  a  Beau  Brummel  alongside  of  us.  We 
are  shabby,  because  we  have  worn  out  all 


DR.    KANE    IN    ARCTIC    RIG. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     329 

our  flimsy  wardrobes,  and  have  of  late  re- 
sorted to  domestic  tailorization.  We  are 
snobby,  because  our  advance  in  the  new  art 
does  not  yet  extend  to  the  picturesque  or 
well-fitting.  I  wish  some  of  mj^  soda-water- 
in-the-morning  club  friends  could  see  me 
perspiring  over  a  pair  of  pants,  dorcassing  a 
defunct  sock.  We  do  our  own  sewing,  cloth- 
ing ourselves  cap-a-pie;  and  it  astonishes 
me,  looking  back  upon  my  dark  period  of 
previous  ignorance,  to  feel  how  much  I  have 
learned.  I  wonder  whether  your  friend  the 
Philadelphia  D'Orsay  knows  how  to  adjust 
with  a  ruler  and  a  lump  of  soap  the  seat  of 
a  pair  of  breeches? 

"Why,  I  have  even  made  discoveries  in — 
I  forget  the  Greek  word  for  it — the  art 
which  made  George  the  Fourth  so  famous. 
Thus  a  method,  adopted  by  our  mess,  of  cut- 
ting five  pairs  of  stockings  out  of  one  ham- 
mock blanket — a  thing  hitherto  deemed  im- 
possible— is  altogether  my  own.  In  the  ab- 
stract or  speculative  part  of  the  profession, 
I  claim  to  be  the  first  who  has  reduced  all 
vestiture  to  a  primitive  form — an  integral 
particle,  as  it  were.     I  can't  dwell  on  this 


330     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

matter  here:  it  might,  perhaps,  be  out  of 
place;  perhaps,  too,  attributed  in  some  de- 
gree to  that  personal  vanity  almost  insepa- 
rable from  invention.  I  will  tell  you,  how- 
ever, that  this  discovered  type,  this  radical 
nucleus,  is  the  'bag.'  Thus  a  bag,  or  a 
couple  of  parallelogramic  planes  sewed  to- 
gether, makes  the  covering  of  the  trunk. 
Similar  bags  of  scarcely  varied  proportion 
cover  the  arms;  ditto  the  legs;  ditto  the 
hands;  ditto  the  head:  thus  going  on,  bags, 
bags,  bags,  even  to  the  fingers ;  a  cytoblastic 
operation,  having  interesting  analogies  with 
the  mycelium  of  the  fungus  or  the  saccine 
vegetation  of  the  confei*vas. 

'Ail  this  is  a  digression,  perhaps;  yet  I 
am  not  the  first  traveler  whose  breeches  have 
figured  in  his  diary  of  wonders:  j^ou  remem- 
ber the  geometrical  artist  of  Laputa  who  re- 
enforced  the  wardrobe  of  Mr.  Gulliver. 
But  to  retm-n  to  less  ambitious  topics.  The 
birds,  in  spite  of  the  increasing  wind,  fly 
over  in  numbers,  all  seeking  the  mysterious 
north.  "V^Hiat  is  there  at  this  unreached  pole 
to  attract  and  sustain  such  hordes  of  migra- 
tory life?     Since  the  day  before  yesterday. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     331 

the  16th,  we  can  not  be  on  deck  at  any  hour, 
night  or  day — they  are  one  now — without 
seeing  small  bodies,  rather  groups  than 
flocks,  on  their  way  to  the  unknown  feeding 
or  breeding  grounds.  Toward  the  west  the 
field  of  a  telescope  is  constantly  crossed  by 
these  detachments.  The  ducks  are  now 
scarce :  in  fact,  they  have  been  few  from  the 
beginning.  Geese  are  seen  only  in  the  fore- 
noon and  early  morning.  The  guillemots, 
also,  are  not  so  numerous  as  they  were  two 
days  ago;  but  from  to-day  we  date  the  re- 
appearance of  the  little  auk.  This  deh- 
cious  little  j)ilgrim  is  now  on  his  way  to  his 
far  north  breeding  grounds.  Toward  the 
open  lead  the  groups  fly  low,  sometimes 
doubtless  pausing  to  refresh.  At  the 
water's  edge  I  shot  five,  the  first  game  of  the 
season;  and  most  valuable  they  were  to  our 
scurvy  men.  If  this  snow  blindness  permits 
me,  I  hope  to-morrow  to  prove  myself  a 
more  lucky  sportsman. 

''May  19,  Monday.  Jim  Smith,  little 
Jim  Smith,  reported  'Land.'  We  have  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  this  great  sameness 
of  snow,  that  it  was  hard  to  realize  at  first 


332     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  magnitude  of  our  drift.  Our  last  land 
was  the  spectral  elevation  upreared  in  the 
sunset  sky  of  the  9th  of  February.  The 
land  itself  must  have  been  eighty  miles  off. 
Our  drift,  although  now  not  absolutely  fixed 
by  observation,  has  probably  carried  us  to 
within  forty  miles,  perhaps  thirty,  of  Cape 
Searle.  Land  it  certainly  is,  shadowy,  high, 
snow-covered,  and  strange.  It  is  ninety- 
nine  days  since  we  looked  at  the  refracted 
tops  of  the  Lancaster  Bay  headlands,  our 
last  land. 

"May  20,  Tuesday.  So  snow-blind  that 
I  can  barely  see  to  write.  A  gauzy  film 
floats  between  me  and  every  thing  else.  I 
have  been  walking  twelve  miles  upon  the 
ice.  No  sun,  but  a  peculiar  misty,  opal- 
escent glare.  I  bagged  thirty- three  auks; 
but  my  snow-blindness  avenges  them." 

For  some  days  after  this  entry  my  snow- 
blindness  unfitted  me  for  active  duty.  Sev- 
eral of  the  officers  and  men  shared  the  visi- 
tation, Captain  De  Haven  more  severely 
than  any  of  us.  ]\Iy  next  quotation  from 
my  journal  dates  of  the  24th. 

"May    24,    Saturday.     The    ship    shows 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     333 

signs  of  change,  grating  a  little  in  her  icy 
cradle,  and  rising  at  least  nine  inches  for- 
ward. The  work  of  removing  the  ice  goes 
on  painfully,  but  constantly.  The  blocks 
are  now  hoisted  with  winch  and  capstan  by 
a  purchase  from  the  fore-yard;  the  saw,  of 
course,  pioneering.  The  blocks  when  taken 
out  resemble  great  break- water  stones,  meas- 
uring sometimes  eight  by  six  feet. 

"Thus  far,  by  persevering  labor,  we  have 
cut  a  four-feet  wide  trench  to  our  starboard 
gangway,  a  little  vacant  pool  of  six  yards 
by  three  in  our  bows,  and  a  second  trench 
now  reaching  amidships  of  our  fore-chains. 

"The  difference  of  level  between  the  deck 
at  our  bows  and  stern  is  still  five  feet  three 
inches.  It  is  proposed  to  launch  the  brig, 
as  it  were,  from  her  ice-ways.  To  this  pur- 
pose a  screw  jack  is  to  be  applied  aft,  and 
strong  purchases  on  the  ice  ahead.  The  ex- 
periment will  take  place  this  afternoon. 
We  have  now  been  five  months  and  a  half, 
since  the  seventh  of  December,  living  on  an 
inclined  plane  of  about  one  foot  in  sixteen. 

"10  P.M.  The  effort  failed,  as  no  doubt 
it  ought  to  have  done :  we  must  wait  for  the 


334     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

great  break-up  to  give  us  an  even  keel. 
From  the  mast-head  we  can  see  encroach- 
ments all  around.  The  plains,  over  which 
I  chased  the  bear  and  shot  at  auks,  are  now 
water.  The  floe  is  reduced  to  its  old  winter 
dimensions,  three  miles  in  one  diameter,  five 
in  the  other.  We  have  not  yet  reached  the 
narrow  passage;  and  the  wind,  now  from 
the  southward,  seems  to  be  holding  us  back. 
Strange  as  it  sounds,  we  are  in  hopes  of  a 
break-up  at  Caj)e  Walsingham. 

''May  25,  Sundaj^  Howling  a  perfect 
gale;  drift  impenetrable.  By  some  provi- 
dential interference  the  wind  returned  last 
night  to  its  old  quarter,  the  northwest,  a  di- 
rection corresponding  with  the  trend  of  the 
shore.  It  is  undoubtedly  di'iving  us  fast  to 
the  southward,  and  is,  of  all  quarters,  that 
most  favorable  to  a  passage  without  disrup- 
tion. Once  past  Cape  Walsingham,  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  bay  is  sudden  and  extensive. 
If,  then,  our  floe  maintains  its  integrity 
through  the  strait,  the  relief  from  pressure 
may  allow  us  to  continue  our  drifting  jour- 
ney.    So  at  least  we  argue. 

"And  just  so,  it  may  be,  others  have  ar- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     335 

gued  before  us  about  chances  of  escape  that 
never  came:  there  is  a  cycle  even  in  the  his- 
tory of  adventure.  It  makes  me  sad  some- 
times when  I  think  of  the  fruitless  labors 
of  the  men  who  in  the  very  olden  times  har- 
assed themselves  with  these  perplexing  seas. 
There  have  been  Sir  John  Franklins  before, 
and  searchers  too,  who  in  searching  shared 
the  fate  of  those  they  sought  after.  It  is 
good  food  for  thought  here,  while  I  am  of 
and  among  them,  to  recall  tlie  heart-burn- 
ings and  the  failures,  the  famishings  and  the 
freezings,  the  silent,  unrecorded  transits  of 
'y^  Arctic  voyageres.' 

"Mount  Raleigh,  named  by  sturdy  old 
John  Davis  'a  brave  mount,  the  cliffes 
whereof  were  as  orient  as  golde,'  shows  itself 
still,  not  so  glittering  as  he  saw  it  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  years  ago,  but  a  'brave 
mount'  notwithstanding.  No  Christian  eyes 
have  ever  gazed  in  May  time  on  its  ice- 
defended  slope,  except  our  own.  Yet  there 
it  stands,  as  imperishable  as  the  name  it 
bears. 

"I  could  fill  my  journal  with  the  little  his- 
tories of  this  very  shore.     The  Cape  of  God's 


336     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

Mercy  is  ahead  of  us  to  the  west,  as  it  was 
ahead  of  the  man  who  named  it.  The  Meta 
Incognita,  fm'ther  on,  is  still  as  unknown  as 
in  the  days  of  Frobisher.  We  have  passed, 
by  the  inevitable  coercion  of  ice,  from  the 
highest  regions  of  Arctic  exploration,  the 
lands  of  Parry,  and  Ross,  and  Franklin,  to 
the  lowest,  the  seats  of  the  early  search  for 
Cathay,  the  lands  of  Cabot,  and  Davis,  and 
Baffin,  the  graves  of  Cortereal,  and  Gilbert, 
and  Hudson — all  seekers  after  shadows. 
Men  still  seek  Cathay." 


CHAPTER  XX 

"f^  ■  ^HE  storm  broke  in  the  early 
■  morning  hours.  We  have 
B  drifted  more  than  sixteen  miles 
since  Saturday.  The  true  bear- 
ing of  the  prominent  cape  we  supposed  to 
be  Cape  Walsingham  was  found  by  solar 
distance  to  be  S.  63°  W. ;  while  our  observed 
position,  by  meridian  altitude  and  chrono- 
meters, placed  us  but  four  miles  north  of 
Exeter  Bay.  Either,  then,  the  protruding 
cape  is  not  Walsingham,  or  our  chronome- 
ters are  at  fault.  This  latter  is  probably 
the  case;  for  if  the  coast  hne  be  correctly 
laid  down  on  the  charts,  the  true  bearing 
cited  above,  projected  from  our  present  par- 
allel of  latitude,  would  place  us  thirty-six 
miles  from  the  cape.  More  likely  this  than 
so  near  Exeter. 

"Our  latitude  is  about  66°  51',  a  very  few 
miles  north  of  the  projecting  headland,  the 
western  Gades  of  our  strait.     The  character 

337 


S38     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

of  the  land  is  rugged  and  inhospitable. 
Ridges,  offsetting  from  the  higher  range, 
project  in  spurs  laterally,  creviced  and 
water-worn,  but  to  seaward  escarped  and 
bluff.  Some  of  these  are  mural  and  precipi- 
tous, of  commanding  height.  The  main 
range  does  not  retire  very  far  from  the  sea ; 
it  seems  to  follow  the  trend  of  the  peninsula, 
and  most  probably  on  the  Greenland  shore 
is  but  the  abutment  of  a  plateau.  Its  cul- 
minating points  are  not  numerous :  the  high- 
est. Mount  Raleigh,  is,  by  my  vague  esti- 
mate, about  fifteen  hundred  feet  high. 

"May  27.  The  land  is  very  near  to  the 
eye ;  but  in  these  regions  we  have  learned  to 
distrust  ocular  measurements  of  distance. 
Though  we  see  every  wrinkle,  even  to  the 
crows'  feet,  on  the  cheeks  of  Mount  Ra- 
leigh, I  remember  last  year,  on  the  west 
coast  of  Greenland,  we  saw  almost  under  our 
nose  land  that  was  thirty-five  miles  off.  A 
party  from  the  Rescue  measured  a  base  upon 
the  ice  to-day,  and  attempted  trigonometri- 
cal measurements  with  sextant  angles. 
They  make  Cape  Walsingham  seven  miles 
distant,  and  the  height  of  the  peak  at  the 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     339 

cape  fifteen  hundred  feet.  Our  observation 
places  us  in  latitude  66°  42'  W;  our  longi- 
tude by  time  sights,  at  5h.  43m.  p.m.,  was 
60°  54'.  According  to  the  Admiralty  chart, 
this  plants  us  high  and  dry  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Cape  Walsingham. 

"It  is  evident  that  our  rate  of  drift  has 
increased.  The  northwest  winds  carried  us 
forward  eight  miles  a  day  while  near  the 
strait — a  speed  only  equaled  in  a  few  of  the 
early  days  of  our  escape  from  Lancaster 
Sound.  What  has  become  of  all  the  ice  that 
used  to  be  intervening  between  us  and  the 
shore?  At  one  time  we  had  a  distance  of 
ninety  miles:  we  are  now  close  upon  the 
coast.  What  has  become  of  it  ?  If  it  moves 
at  the  same  rate  as  we  do,  whj''  have  we  no 
squeezing  and  coimnotion  at  this  narrow 
strait?  Can  it  be  that  the  ice  to  the  west- 
ward of  us  has  been  more  or  less  fixed  to  the 
land  floe,  and  that  we  have  been  drifting 
down  in  a  race-course,  as  it  were,  an  ice- 
river  whose  banks  were  this  same  shore  ice? 
Or  is  it,  as  Murdaugh  suggests,  that  the  in- 
shore currents,  more  rapid,  have  carried 
down  the  in-shore  ice  before  us,  thus  widen- 


340     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ing  the  pathway  for  us?  It  is  certainly  very 
puzzhng  to  find  ourselves,  at  the  narrowest 
passage,  close  into  the  land ;  and  no  commo- 
tion, no  disturbance.  On  the  contrary,  from 
the  mast-head  abundant  open  water  meets 
the  eye;  and  could  we  escape  from  our  im- 
prisoning, but — thankfully  I  say  it — pro- 
tecting floe,  we  might  soon  be  moving  in 
open  seas. 

''3Iay  28,  Wednesday.  The  fact  of  the 
day  is  the  rotation  of  our  floe.  In  spite  of 
its  irregular  shape,  it  has  rotated  a  complete 
circle  within  the  past  twenty-four  hours.  It 
is  still  turning  at  the  same  rate,  wheeling  us 
down  along  the  in-shore  fields.  The  Rescue, 
early  this  morning,  was  between  us  and  the 
land:  the  evening  before,  the  same  land  was 
astern  of  us.  Strange  that  no  rupture  takes 
place ! 

"31  ay  29,  Thursday.  I  have  just  been 
witnessing  one  of  the  oddest  of  Ai'ctic 
freaks.  We  were  all  of  us  engaged  in  trac- 
ing out  the  rugged  indentations  on  Mount 
Raleigh,  as  the  fioe  was  rolling  our  vessels 
slowly  along  past  Cape  Walsingham,  when, 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon — the  ther- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     341 

mometer  at  27°,  the  barometer  at  30.31,  and 
the  atmosphere  of  the  usual  pearly  opales- 
cence— the  C£L])tain,  sweeping  shoreward 
with  his  glass,  saw  a  large  pyramidal  hum- 
mock, with  a  well-defined  figure  projecting 
in  front  of  it,  evidently  animated  and  mov- 
ing. Murdaugh,  looking  afterward,  de- 
clared it  'a  man.'  I  saw  it  next,  a  large  hu- 
man figure,  covered  with  a  cloak,  and  mo- 
tionless. Murdaugh  took  the  glass  again, 
and  holding  it  to  his  eye,  suddenly  exclaimed, 
*It  moves:'  'it  spreads  out  its  arms;'  'it  is  a 
gigantic  bird!' 

"The  hummock  was  within  a  mile  of  us. 
The  words  were  hardly  uttered  before  the 
object  had  disappeared,  and  the  white  snow 
was  without  a  speck.  A  discussion  fol- 
lowed. The  size  made  us  at  once  reject  the 
bird  idea :  the  shape,  too,  w^as  that  of  a  cloak- 
covered  man ;  the  motion,  as  if  he  had  opened 
his  mantle-covered  arms.  Convinced  that 
it  was  a  human  being,  an  Esquimaux  astray 
upon  the  ice,  Murdaugh  and  myself  started 
off,  nearing  the  hummock  with  hearts  full 
of  expectation.  The  traces  on  the  soft  snow 
would  soon  solve  the  mystery,  and  remove 


342     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

our  only  doubt,  whether  the  'Rescues'  might 
not  be  playing  us  a  trick. 

"Whatever  it  was,  it  either  did  not  per- 
ceive us  approaching,  or  was  willing  to  avoid 
us;  for  it  kept  itself  hidden  behind  a  crag. 
Reaching,  however,  the  spot  where  it  had 
stood,  w^e  found  traces,  coprolitic  and  recent, 
of  a  bird;  footprints,  as  a  learned  professor 
would  have  said,  of  certain  familiar  animal 
processes,  exaggerated  and  dignified  by 
those  of  refraction. 

"On  returning  to  the  brig,  the  watchers 
told  us  that  we  had  been  ourselves  curiously 
distorted ;  and  that,  when  perched  on  the  lit- 
tle icy  crag  we  had  gone  to  scrutinize,  we 
lengthened  vertically  into  gigantic  forms. 
The  position  of  the  bird,  probably  a  glaucous 
gull,  had  been  breast  toward  the  brig :  a  ver- 
tical enlargement,  with  the  white  body  and 
moving  wings,  explained  the  phenomenon. 

"The  'Rescues'  had  a  very  large  bear 
hovering  around  them  all  this  morning.  At 
one  P.M.  he  came  within  reach  of  a  carefully- 
prepared  ambush,  receiving  four  out  of  a 
half  dozen  balls,  a  number  soon  increased  to 
nine.     You  may  have  some  idea  of  the  su- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     343 

perb  tenacity  of  life  of  this  beast,  when  I 
tell  you  that  he  ran,  thus  perforated,  with 
his  skull  broken  and  his  shoulder  shivered. 
He  even  attempted  a  charge,  uttering  a  hiss- 
ing sound,  ejaculated  by  sudden  impulse, 
like  the  'blowing  of  a  whale,'  to  use  Captain 
Griffin's  comparison.  He  measured  eight 
feet  five  inches,  only  three  inches  less  than 
my  own  big  trophy,  which,  with  one  excep- 
tion, is  the  largest  recorded  in  the  stories  of 
the  Polar  American  hunt.  What  a  glorious 
feed  for  the  scurvy-stricken  ships! 

"To-day,  for  the  first  time,  we  had  a  tide, 
made  evident  by  the  changing  phases  of  the 
shore.  We  made  southing  in  the  forenoon: 
now,  at  half  past  eight  p.m.,  the  alignment 
of  the  hills  shows  a  northward  drift.  The 
ice  is  unchanged:  our  floe  is  rotating  from 
west  to  south,  against  the  sun,  but  not 
equably.  We  crossed  the  Arctic  circle  at 
some  unknown  hour  this  forenoon.  To  the 
eye  every  thing  is  as  before ;  yet  it  cheats  one 
into  pleasant  thoughts.  I  do  not  wish  to  see 
a  midnight  sun  again. 

''May  30.  The  seal  are  out  upon  the  ice, 
one  of  the  most  certain  signs  of  summer. 


344     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

They  are  few  In  number,  and  very  cautious. 
We  notice  that  they  invariably  select  an 
open  floe  for  their  hole,  and  that  they  never 
leave  it  more  than  a  few  lengths.  Their 
alertness  is  probably  due  to  their  vigilant 
enemy,  the  bear.  Sometimes  you  will  see 
them  frolicking  together  like  a  parcel  of 
swimming  school-boys;  sometimes  they  are 
solitaiy,  but  keenly  alive  always  to  the  en- 
jojinent  of  the  sunshine.  I  have  often 
crawled  within  fair  eye-shot,  and,  seated  be- 
hind a  concealing  lump  of  ice,  watched  their 
movements. 

"The  first  act  of  a  seal,  after  emerging,  is 
a  careful  survey  of  his  limited  horizon.  For 
this  purpose  he  rises  on  his  fore  flij^pers,  and 
stretches  his  neck  in  a  manner  almost  dog- 
like. This  maneuver,  even  during  appar- 
ently complete  silence,  is  repeated  every  few 
minutes.  He  next  commences  with  his  hind 
or  horizontal  flippers  and  tail  a  most  singu- 
lar movement,  allied  to  sweeping;  brushing 
nervously,  as  if  either  to  rub  something  from 
himself  or  from  beneath  him.  Then  comes 
a  complete  series  of  attitudes,  stretching,  col- 
lapsing, curling,  wagging;  then  a  luxurious. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     345 

basking  rest,  with  his  face  toward  the  sun 
and  his  tail  to  his  hole.  Presently  he  wad- 
dles off  about  two  of  his  own  awkward 
lengths  from  his  retreat,  and  begins  to  roll 
over  and  over,  pawing  on  the  most  ludicrous 
manner  into  the  empty  air,  stretching  and 
rubbing  liis  glossy  hide  like  a  horse.  He 
then  recommences  his  vigil,  basking  in  the 
sun  with  uneasy  alertness  for  hours.  At  the 
slightest  advance,  up  goes  the  prying  head. 
One  searching  glance;  and,  wheeling  on  his 
tail  as  on  a  pivot,  he  is  at  his  hole,  and  de- 
scends head  foremost. 

"I  have  watched  so  many  without  success, 
that  to-night  I  determined  to  try  the  Esqui- 
maux plan — patience  and  a  snow-screen. 
This  latter,  the  easier  portion  of  the  formula, 
I  have  just  returned  from  completing;  it 
was  a  mile's  walk  and  an  hour's  snow- 
shoveling.  The  other,  the  patience,  I  at- 
tempt to-morrow,  'squat  like  a  toad'  on  the 
ice  for  an  unknown  series  of  hours,  with  the 
sun  blistering  my  nose,  and  blinking  my  eyes 
the  while;  a  sort  of  sport  so  much  like  fish- 
ing, that  it  ought  to  be  reserved  for  the  Pis- 
cators  of  our  Schuylkill  Club. 


346     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

"The  walk  over  the  snow  to-night  was 
very  dehghtful.  The  opalescence,  so  pain- 
ful to  the  eyes,  had  given  place  to  a  clear  at- 
mosphere; and  the  low  sun  was  full  of  rich 
coloring.  Land,  too,  that  pleasing  repre- 
sentative of  the  world  we  are  cut  off  from, 
was  refracted  into  grotesque  knolls  and  long 
spires. 

"The  surface  of  the  floes  shows  more  and 
more  the  thawing  influence  of  our  sun,  now 
half  as  high  at  meridian  as  in  the  torrid  zone ! 
The  immediate  surface  to-day  was  often  en- 
tire, though  we  plunged  almost  knee-deep  in 
water  below  it.  This  you  will  easily  under- 
stand when  I  tell  you  that  the  thermometer 
in  the  sun  gave,  for  four  successive  hours  to- 
day, a  mean  of  nearly  80°.  The  surface 
thaw  percolates  through  the  loosely-com- 
pacted snow,  and,  forming  a  pasty  substra- 
tum, is  protected  from  re-freezing  by  the 
very  snow  through  which  it  has  descended. 
Our  mean  temperature  of  late  has  varied  but 
little  between  25°  and  27°  for  any  twenty- 
four  hours. 

"The  infiltration  of  saline  water  through 
the  ice  assists  the  process  of  disintegration. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     347 

The  water  formed  by  surface  or  sun  thaw 
is,  by  the  peculiar  endosmitic  action  which  I 
believe  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere,  at  once 
rendered  salt,  as  was  evident  from  Baume's 
hydrometers  and  the  test  of  the  nitrate  of  sil- 
ver. The  surface  crust  bore  me  readily  this 
evening  at  a  temperature  of  21°  and  19°, 
giving  no  evidences  of  thaw.  Beneath,  for 
two  inches,  it  was  crisp  and  fresh.  As  I 
tried  it  lower,  cutting  carefully  with  my 
bear-knife,  it  became  spongy  and  brackish; 
at  eight  inches  markedly  so;  and  at  and  be- 
low twelve,  salt-water  paste.  On  the  other 
hand,  all  my  observations,  and  I  have  made  a 
great  many,  prove  to  me  that  cold,  if  in- 
tense enough,  will,  by  its  unaided  action,  in- 
defjendent  of  percolation,  solar  heat,  depend- 
ing position,  or  even  depth  of  ice,  produce 
from  salt  water  a  fresh,  pure,  and  drinkable 
element. 

"May  31,  Saturday.  Walked  to-night 
to  the  southward  in  search  of  seal :  found  the 
ice  in  motion,  and  had  some  difficulty  in  get- 
ting back.  Wind  from  southward,  and 
freshening,  after  a  day  of  nearly  perfect 
calm.     The  drift  is  somewhat  to  the  east- 


348     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

ward.  The  tables  were  heaping  up  actively, 
and  the  chewing  process  of  demolition  was 
in  full  energy  among  them.  I  have  some 
hope  that  the  action  may  extend  itself  to  the 
core  of  our  veteran  floe-circle;  but  for  the 
present  it  is  confined  to  those  peripheral  ad- 
juncts that  have  grown  up  around  it  in  more 
recent  freezings.  A  bird's-eye  view  from 
the  mast-head,  corrected  by  my  walks,  en- 
ables me  to  map  out  its  present  shape  with 
considerable  accuracy." 

The  "month  of  roses"  closed  on  us  without 
adventure;  but  its  last  ten  days  were  full  of 
monitory  changes.  The  increased  tempera- 
ture had  been  visibly  acting  upon  the  ice, 
softening  down  its  rough  angles,  and  reduc- 
ing bowlders  to  mere  knobs  on  the  surface; 
its  weary  monotony  becoming  every  day 
only  more  disgusting.  From  the  1st  to  the 
19th  we  had  drifted  almost  a  hundred  miles, 
and  had  been  expecting  daily  to  make  the 
eastern  shore,  when  land  was  reported  ahead. 
It  proved  to  be  the  Highlands  around  Cape 
Searle,  about  thirty-five  miles  off. 

It  was  the  first  inbreak  upon  our  desolate 
circle  of  ice  and  water  that  we  had  experi- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     349 

enced  in  ninety-nine  days.  The  hundredth 
gave  us  a  complete  range  of  dreary,  snow- 
covered  hills ;  but  to  men  whose  last  recollec- 
tions of  terra  firma  were  connected  with  the 
refracted  spectres  that  followed  us  eighty 
miles  from  shore,  just  one  hundred  days 
since,  the  solid  certainty  of  mountain  ridges 
was  inexpressibly  grateful.  We  studied 
their  phases,  as  we  drew  nearer  to  them,  with 
an  intentness  which  would  have  been  ludi- 
crous under  different  circumstances:  every 
cranny,  every  wrinkle  spoke  to  us  of  move- 
ment, of  a  relation  with  the  shut-out  world. 
Our  drift  which  brought  us  this  blessed  va- 
riety was  favored  by  an  unusual  prevalence 
of  northwesterly  winds.  We  made  in  the 
thirty-one  days  of  May  one  hundred  and 
ninety  odd  miles  to  the  southward  and  east- 
ward. 

For  the  last  four  days  of  the  month  we 
were  at  the  margin  of  the  Arctic  circle,  al- 
ternating within  and  without  it.  We 
passed  to  the  south  of  it  on  the  30th,  to  re- 
cross  it  on  the  31st  with  an  accidental  drift 
to  the  northward.  We  were  experiencing 
at  this  time  the  rapid  transition  of  seasons 


350     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

which  characterizes  this  climate.  The  mean 
of  the  preceding  month,  April,  had  been 
+7°  96';  that  of  May  was  20°  22'— a  dif- 
ference of  nearly  twelve  degrees.  At  the 
same  time,  there  was  a  chilliness  about  the 
weather,  an  uncomfortable  rawness,  both  in 
April  and  May,  which  we  had  not  known  un- 
der the  deep,  perpetual  frosts  of  winter. 
Cold  there  seemed  a  tangible,  palpable  some- 
thing, which  we  could  guard  against  or  con- 
trol by  clothing  and  exercise ;  while  warmth, 
as  an  opposite  condition,  was  realizable  and 
apparent.  But  here,  in  temperatures  which 
at  some  hours  were  really  oppressing,  60°  to 
80°  in  the  sun,  and  with  a  Polar  altitude  of 
45°,  one  half  the  equatorial  maximum,  we 
had  the  anomaly  of  absolute  discomfort  from 
cold.  I  know  that  hygrometric  conditions 
and  extreme  daily  fluctuations  of  the  ther- 
mometer explain  much  of  this ;  but  it  was  im- 
possible for  me  to  avoid  thinking  at  the  time 
that  there  must  also  be  a  physiological  cause 
more  powerful  than  either. 

I  have  alluded  in  my  journal  to  the  return 
of  the  birds.     They  were  most  welcome  visi- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    351 

tors.  Crowds  of  little  snow-birds  (Ember- 
iza  and  Plectrophanes) ,  with  white  breasts 
and  jetty  coverts,  were  attracted  by  the  gar- 
bage which  the  thaw  had  reproduced  around 
us,  and  twittered  from  pile  to  pile,  chirping 
sweet  music  over  their  unexpected  store- 
house. Some  of  the  larger  birds,  too,  were 
with  us,  returning  to  the  mysterious  North; 
the  anatinse,  represented  by  the  eiders 
(Somateria),  followed  by  two  of  the  uria 
genus,  the  grylle  and  the  alke.  We  recog- 
nized the  latter  as  our  little  fat  friend  of  last 
summer,  and  gave  him  treatment  accord- 
ingly. I  shot  thirty-three  in  one  day,  which 
my  mess-mates  made  up  to  sixty. 

The  characteristic  disease  of  May  was  the 
snowblindness,  severe  and  acute,  leaving 
with  some  of  us  a  disturbed,  uncertain  state 
of  vision  far  from  pleasing.  The  remedy 
most  effective  was  darkness.  A  disk  of  hard 
wood,  with  a  simple  slit,  admitting  a  narrow 
pencil  of  light,  we  found  a  better  protection 
than  the  goggle  or  colored  lens ;  the  increased 
sensibility  of  the  retina  seeming  to  require 
a  diminution  of  the  quantity  rather  than  a 


352     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

modification  of  the  character  of  the  ray. 
The  slightest  automatic  movement  varied,  of 
course,  the  sentient  surface  affected  by  the 
impression. 


TOPOGRAPH  \  i  OE,    MAY   31. 

A.  Advance.  B  B.  Shorter  diameter,  314  miles. 

R.  Rescue.  CC.  Longer  diameter,  51/2  miles. 

Distance  between  the  vessels,  500  yards. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

UNE  1.     June  opens  on  us  warm. 

Our  mean  temperature  to-day  has 

been  above  the  freezing  point,  34°; 

our  lowest  only  29° ;  and  at  11  this 
morning  it  rose  to  40°.  The  snow-birds  in- 
crease in  numbers  and  in  confidence.  It  is 
delightful    to    hear    their     sweet    jargon. 

353 


J 


354     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

They  alight  on  the  decks,  and  come  unhesi- 
tatingly to  our  very  feet.  These  dear  little 
Fringillides  have  e\'idently  never  visited 
Cliristian  lands. 

"June  3.  The  day  misty  and  obscure :  no 
land  in  sight  from  aloft;  and  no  change  ap- 
j)arent  in  the  floe.  But  we  notice  a  distinct 
undulation  in  the  ice  trenches  alongside, 
caused  probably  by  some  propagated  swell. 

"I  walked  out  at  night  between  9  and  11 
o'clock  in  search  of  open  water.  We  had 
the  full  light  of  day,  but  without  its  oppres- 
sive glare.  The  thawed  condition  of  the 
marginal  ice  made  the  walk  difficult,  and 
forced  us  at  last  to  give  it  up.  But,  climb- 
ing to  the  top  of  a  hummock,  we  could  see 
the  bay  rolling  its  almost  summer  waves 
close  under  our  view.  It  was  a  grand  sight, 
but  more  saddening  than  grand.  It  seems 
like  our  cup  of  Tantalus;  we  are  never  to 
reach  it.  And  while  we  are  floating  close 
upon  it,  the  season  is  advancing;  and  if  we 
are  ever  to  aid  our  brothers  in  the  search,  we 
should  even  now  be  hurrying  back. 

''June  4.  Yesterday  over  again.  But 
the  water  is  coming  nearer  us.     As  we  stand 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     355 

on  deck,  we  can  see  the  black  and  open  chan- 
nel-way on  every  side  of  us,  except  off  our 
port  quarter:  it  is  useless  to  talk  of  points 
of  the  compass ;  our  floe  rotates  so  constantly 
from  right  to  left,  as  to  make  them  useless 
in  description.  To  port,  the  extent  of  ice 
baffles  the  eye,  even  from  aloft ;  it  must,  how- 
ever, be  a  mere  isthmus. 

"June  5,  Thursday.  We  notice  again 
this  morning  the  movement  in  the  trench 
alongside.  The  floating  scum  of  rubbish  ad- 
vances and  recedes  with  a  regularity  that  can 
only  be  due  to  some  equable  undulation  from 
without  to  the  north.  We  continue  perched 
up,  just  as  we  were  after  our  great  lift  of 
last  December.  A  more  careful  measure- 
ment than  we  had  made  before,  gave  us  yes- 
terday, between  our  height  aft  and  depres- 
sion forward,  a  difference  of  level  of  6  feet 
4  inches.  This  inclination  tells  in  a  length 
of  83  feet — about  one  in  thirteen. 

"P.M.  The  BREAK-UP  AT  last!  a  little 
after  five  this  afternoon,  Mr.  Griffin  left  us 
for  the  Rescue,  after  making  a  short  visit. 
He  had  hardly  gone  before  I  heard  a  hail 
and  its  answer,  both  of  them  in  a  tone  of 


356     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

more  excitement  than  we  had  been  used  to 
for  some  time  past;  and  the  next  moment, 
the  cry,  'Ice  cracking  ahead!' 

"Murdaugh  and  myself  reached  the  deck 
just  in  time  to  see  De  Haven  crossing  our 
gangway.  We  followed.  Imagine  our  feel- 
ings when,  midway  between  the  two  vessels, 
we  saw  Griffin  with  the  ice  separating  be- 
fore him,  and  at  the  same  instant  found  a 
crack  tracing  its  way  between  us,  and  the 
water  spinning  up  to  the  surface.  'Stick  by 
the  floe.  Good-by!  What  news  for  home?' 
said  he.  One  jump  across  the  chasm,  a 
hearty  God-bless-you  shake  of  the  hand,  a 
long  jump  back,  and  a  httle  river  divided 
our  party. 

"Griffin  made  his  way  along  one  fissure 
and  over  another.  We  followed  a  lead  that 
was  open  to  our  starboard  beam,  each  man 
for  himself.  In  half  a  minute  or  less  came 
the  outcry,  'She's  breaking  out:  all  hands 
aboard!'  and  within  ten  minutes  from  Grif- 
fin's first  hail,  while  we  were  yet  scrambling 
into  our  little  Ark  of  Refuge,  the  whole 
area  about  us  was  divided  by  irregular 
chasms  in  everj^  direction. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     357 

"All  this  was  at  half  past  five.     At  six  I 
took  a  bird's-eye  sketch  from  aloft.     Many 


BIKD's-EYE    view   of   floe,   JUNE    5. 

A.  Advance.  D.  Floe  adhering  to  the  Advance. 

R.  Rescue.  C.  Path  between  brigs  before  break-up. 

H  H.  Hummocks. 

of  the  fissures  were  already  some  twenty 
paces  across.  Conflicting  forces  were  at 
work  every  where;  one  round-house  moving 


358     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

here,  another  in  an  opposite  direction,  the 
two  vessels  parting  company.  Since  the 
night  of  our  Lancaster  Sound  commotion, 
months  ago,  the  Rescue  had  not  changed  her 
bearing:  she  was  ah-eady  on  our  port-beam. 
Every  thing  was  changed. 

"Our  brig,  however,  had  not  yet  found  an 
even  keel.  The  enormous  masses  of  ice, 
thrust  under  her  stern  by  the  action  of  re- 
peated pressures,  had  glued  themselves  to- 
gether so  completely,  that  we  remained 
cradled  in  a  mass  of  ice  exceeding  twenty- 
five  feet  in  solid  depth.  Many  of  these 
tables  were  liberated  by  the  swell,  and  rose 
majestically  from  their  recesses,  striking  the 
ship,  and  then  escaping  above  the  surface  for 
a  moment,  with  a  sudden  vault. 

"To  add  to  the  novelty  of  our  situation, 
two  cracks  coming  together  obliquely,  met 
a  few  yards  astern  of  us,  cleaving  through  the 
heavy  ice,  and  leaving  us  attached  to  a  tri- 
angular fragment  of  14  by  22  paces.  This 
berg-like  fragment,  reduced  as  it  was,  con- 
tinued its  close  adhesion.  Its  buoyancy  was 
so  great,  that  it  acted  like  a  camel,  retain- 
ing the  brig's  stern  high  in  the  air,  her  bows 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     359 

thrown  down  toward  the  water.  We  are 
so  at  this  moment,  10  p.m." 

All  hands  were  in  the  mean  time  actively 
at  work.  The  floe  had  been  to  us  terra  firma 
so  long  that  we  had  applied  it  to  all  the  pur- 
poses of  land.  Clothes  and  clothes'  lines, 
sledges,  preserved  meats,  kindling  wood  and 
planking,  were  now  all  bundled  on  board. 
The  artificial  horizon,  which  had  stood  for 
eight  months  upon  a  little  ice-pedestal,  was 
barely  saved ;  and  I  had  to  work  hard  to  get 
one  of  my  few  remaining  thermometers  from 
a  neighboring  hummock. 

The  cause  of  this  sudden  disruption — I 
mean  the  immediate  cause,  for  the  summer 
influences  had  prepared  the  floe  for  disin- 
tegration— was  evidently  the  sea-swell  set- 
ting from  the  southeast.  This  sweU  had 
given  us  minor  manifestations  of  its  exist- 
ence as  far  back  as  the  1st  of  June. 
Whether  it  was  increased  without,  or  our 
floe  made  more  accessible  to  it  by  the  drift- 
ing away  of  other  and  protecting  floes,  I  can 
not  say.  This,  however,  was  clear,  that  the 
great  undulations  propagated  by  wave  ac- 


360     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

tion  caused  our  disruption.  The  i^roof  of 
this  I  shall  not  forget. 

Standing  on  our  little  deck,  and  looking 
out  on  the  floe,  we  had  the  strange  spectacle 
of  an  undulating  solidity,  a  propagated 
wave  borne  in  swell-like  ridges,  as  if  our  ice 
was  a  carpet  shaken  b}^  Titans.  I  can  not 
convey  the  effect  of  this  sublime  spectacle. 
The  ice,  broken  into  polyhedric  masses,  gave 
at  a  few  hundred  yards  no  indications  to  the 
eye  of  the  lines  of  separation ;  besides  which, 
the  infiltration  of  salt  water  had  no  doubt 
increased  the  plasticity  of  the  material. 
Imagine,  then,  this  apparenth^  solid  surface, 
by  long  association  as  unjdelding  to  us  as 
the  shore,  taking  suddenly  upon  itself  the 
functions  of  fluidity,  another  condition  of 
matter.  It  absolutely  produced  something 
like  the  nausea  of  sea-sickness  to  see  the  swell 
of  the  ice,  rising,  and  falling,  and  bending, 
transmitting  with  pliant  facility  the  ad- 
vancing wave. 

A  hummock  hill,  about  midwaj^  between 
us  and  the  Rescue,  gave  me  an  opportunity 
of  measuring  rudely  the  height  of  the  swell. 
It  rose  till  it  covered  her  quarter  boat ;  sink- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     361 

ing  again  till  I  could  see  the  side  of  the  brig 
down  to  her  water-line,  an  interval  of  five 
feet  at  least. 

"As  we  walk  along  the  edge  of  the  open 
fissures,  we  see  a  wonderful  variety  in  the 
thickness  of  the  ice.  Our  apparently  level 
surface  is,  in  fact,  a  mosaic  work  of  ices, 
frozen  at  separate  periods,  and  tesselated  by 
the  several  changes  or  disruptions  which  we 
have  undergone.  Thus  I  can  see  the  tables 
under  our  stern  extending  down  at  least 
twenty-five  feet:  adjoining  this  is  ice  of  four 
feet ;  next  comes  a  field  of  six  feet ;  and  then 
hummock  ridges,  with  tables  choked  below, 
so  as  to  give  an  apparent  depth  of  twenty. 

"The  'calves'  also,  of  which  a  great  many 
have  now  risen  to  the  surface,  are  worthy  of 
note.  These  singular  masses  are  evidently 
fragments  of  tables,  of  every  degree  of  thick- 
ness, which  have  been  forced  down  by  pres- 
sure, and  afterward,  by  some  change  in  the 
temperature  of  the  water,  or  by  wave  and 
tidal  actions,  have  been  liberated  again  from 
the  floe,  and  find  their  way  upward  wherever 
an  opening  permits.  We  saw  them  honey- 
combed and  cellular,  water-sodden  and  in 


369.     ADRIrT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

rounded  bowlders,  rising  from  the  dej)ths 
of  the  sea.  Their  density,  so  near  that  of 
the  liquid  in  which  they  were  submerged, 
made  this  rise  slow  and  impressive.  We 
could  see  them  many  fathoms  below,  voyag- 
ing again  to  the  upper  world.  Once  be- 
tween the  gaping  edges  of  the  lead,  they  ef- 
fectually prevent  the  closing.  They  are 
about  us  in  everj^  direction,  interposed  be- 
tween the  fields. 

"The  appendage  which  sustains  our  brig 
has  a  good  deal  of  this  character.  I  will 
try  to  make  an  exact  drawing  of  it  as  a  curi- 
osity, if  it  hangs  on  to  us  much  longer.  Its 
buoyancy  indicates  great  submerged  mass. 
A  strong  cable  and  ice  anchor  have  been 
carried  to  a  floe  on  our  starboard  bow,  and 
the  swell  drives  it  upon  us  like  a  great  bat- 
tering-ram. This  ingenious  method  of 
pounding  us  out  of  our  tenacious  cradle  sub- 
jects us  to  a  regular  succession  of  hea\'y 
shocks,  which  would  startle  a  man  not  used 
to  ice  navigation.  At  the  time  I  write,  11 
P.M.,  we  have  been  nearly  three  hours  sub- 
jected to  this  banging  without  any  apparent 
impression.     To-morrow  we  will,  if  not  Hb- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     363 

erated,  apply  the  saw ;  and  then  again  to  the 
warps ! 

"11:20  P.M.  In  the  midst  of  fragments, 
few  more  than  a  hundred  yards  in  length, 
nearly  all  much  smaller.  Between  them  are 
zigzag  leads  of  open  water.  Astern  of  us 
is  an  expansion  of  some  fifty  yards  across; 
ahead,  a  winding  creek,  wider  than  our  brig. 
Thus  closes  the  day. 

"One  thing  more:  a  thought  of  gratitude 
before  I  turn  in.  This  journal  shows  that 
I  have  been  in  the  daily  habit  of  taking  long, 
solitary  walks  upon  the  ice,  miles  from  the 
ship.  Suppose  this  rupture  to  have  come 
entirely  without  forewarning !  I  had  greased 
my  boots  for  a  walk  a  few  hours  before  the 
change,  and  only  postjDoned  it  because  I  hap- 
pened to  get  absorbed  in  a  book." 

........^^,_ .,  ,..MMMMm\'.. 


TOPOGRAPHY    OF   FLOE,   JUNE    5. 


PKOFILK    OF    floe;    PORT    SIDE. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


*'  Itr  UNE  6.     Our  bumping  continued  all 
I     night,  without  any  apparent  effect 
I     upon  our  sticking-plaster.     Acting, 
as  this  impact  does,  at  the  long  end 
of  a  lever,  our  stern  being  immovably  fixed, 
it  must  be  hard  upon  the  rudder  post,  a  beam 
that    is    now    protruding    from    the    least 
strengthened  part  of  our  brig  into  a  trans- 
parent glue  of  tenacious  ice.     The  twelve- 
feet  saw,  suspended  from  a  tripod  of  spars, 
is  at  work,  trying  to  cut  a  line  across  the 
mass  to  our  keel.     But  for  this  appendage, 
we  would  be  now  warping  through  the  fis- 
sures. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     365 

"7  P.M.  The  position  of  things  contin- 
ues unchanged.  Our  ice-saw  with  great 
lahor  buried  its  length  in  the  floe,  reaching 
nearly  to  our  stern;  but  the  submerged  ma- 
terial is  so  thick  that  it  has  little  or  no  effect. 
Wedging,  by  billets  of  wood  between  her 
sides  and  the  mounding  ice,  was  equally  in- 
effectual. Gunpowder  would  perhaps  re- 
lease us;  but  that  we  can  not  spare. 

"I  tried  to  measure  the  depth  of  this  in- 
veterate companion  of  ours.  Standing  at 
our  port  gangway,  I  lowered  the  pump-rod 
twenty-four  feet  to  a  shelf  projecting  from 
the  mass:  beneath  this,  a  prolongation  or 
tongue  stretched  to  a  depth  which  I  could 
not  determine.  On  the  other  side,  to  star- 
board, the  ice  descends  in  solid  mass  some 
twenty  feet.  Adopting  twenty-four  feet  as 
a  mean  depth,  and  ninety  by  fifty  feet  as 
the  mean  of  dimensions  at  the  surface,  the 
solid  contents  of  this  troublesome  winter 
relic  would  be  108,000  cubic  feet.  No  won- 
der it  lifts  up  our  little  craft  bodily.  I  have 
made  my  drawings  of  it  with  all  topograph- 
ical accuracy. 

"The  wind  has  been  hauhng  round  from 


366     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  south  to  the  west,  and  by  afternoon  blew 
quite  freshly.  We  made  all  sail,  even  to 
studding-sails,  in  hopes  of  forcing  the  cracks 
ahead,  and  tearing  ourselves,  as  it  were,  from 
our  impediment.     Thus  far  all  has  failed. 

"10  P.M.  The  ship  is  covered  with  can- 
vas: she  stands  motionless  amid  the  ice,  al- 
though her  wings  are  spread  and  tense.  The 
wind  is  fresh  and  steady  from  the  northwest. 
Our  swell  ceases  with  this  wind,  and  the  floes 
seem  disposed  to  come  together  again;  but 
the  days  of  winter  have  passed  by,  and  the 
interposing  calves  prevent  the  apposition  of 
the  edges. 

"The  effects  of  a  constant  force,  slight 
as  it  seems,  have  been  beautifully  shown  by 
our  brig.  Pressing  as  we  do,  under  full  can- 
vas, against  heavy  yet  quiescent  masses,  we 
gradually  force  ahead,  breasting  aside  the 
floes,  and  leaving  behind  us  a  pool  of  open 
water.  Our  rate  is  ten  feet  per  hour !  Re- 
member that  the  old  man  of  Sinbad  stiU 
clings  to  us,  and  that  we  carry  the  burden  in 
this  slow  progress.  I  hope  that  the  Sinbad 
comparison  will  end  here;  for  I  can  readily, 
without  much  imagination,  carry  it  further. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     367 

"12  Midnight.  Still  advancing,  dragging 
behind  us  this  pertinacious  mass.  We  have 
butted  several  times  against  j)rojecting 
floes,  but  it  is  as  unmoved  as  solid  rock. 
Very  foggy:  Rescue  not  visible.  Ther- 
mometer at  29  degrees. 

"We  recognize,  among  the  floe  fragments 
around  us,  old  play-fellows.  Here  we 
played  foot-ball;  there  we  skated;  by  this 
hummock  crag  stood  my  thermometers ;  and 
here  I  shot  a  bear.  We  are  passing  slowly 
from  them,  or  they  from  us.  Now  and  then 
a  rubbish  pile  will  show  itself,  cresting  the 
pure  ice.  Even  an  old  champagne  basket, 
full  of  nothing  but  sadly-pleasant  associa- 
tions, is  recognized  upon  a  distant  floe.  This 
breaking  up  of  a  curtilage  is  not  without  its 
regrets.  I  wish  that  our  'old  man'  would 
loosen  his  gripping  knees :  three  hours  would 
j)ut  us  into  comparatively  open  water. 

''June  7,  Saturday.  The  captain  says 
that  the  shocks  of  the  night  of  the  fifth  were 
the  hardest  our  brig  has  experienced  yet. 

"This  morning  we  made  our  incubus  fast 
to  one  end  of  a  passing  floe,  and  ourselves 
fast  to  the  other:  double  hawsers  were  used. 


368     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

blocks  and  tackle  rigged,  and  all  hands 
placed  at  our  patent  winch,  the  slack  being 
controlled  by  a  windlass.  We  parted  our 
stern  hawser,  and  that  was  all.  Our  resort 
now  is  to  the  fourteen-feet  saw.  With  this, 
before  the  day  closes,  we  shall  cut  a  skerf 
as  far  as  our  fore-foot,  and  then  try  the  effi- 
cacy of  wedges. 

"Toward  evening  the  Rescue  made  sail, 
and  forced  her  way  slowly  through  the  frag- 
ments. By  eight  p.m.  she  was  snugly  se- 
cured to  the  other  side  of  our  own  floe.  A 
beautiful  sight  it  was  to  see  once  more,  even 
in  this  labyrinth  of  rubbish,  a  moving  sail- 
spread  vessel.  Once  a  momentary  opening 
showed  us  the  dark  water,  and  beneath  it 
the  shadow  of  the  brig. 

"10:40.  A  crash!  a  low,  grinding  sound, 
followed  by  loud  exclamations  of  'Back,' 
'back!'  'Hold  on,'  'hold  on!'  I  ran  upon 
deck  in  time  to  add  one  cheer  more  to  three 
which  came  from  the  ice.  A  large  fragment, 
extending  from  her  saw-crack  along  the  bot- 
tom on  the  port  side,  had  broken  off,  cutting 
the  triangle  in  half,  and  leaving  the  crew 
behind  floating  and  separated  from  the  ship. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    369 

All  that  now  confined  us  was  the  mass  (a) 
which  remained  on  her  starboard  quarter. 
This  descended  some  twentj^^  or  more  feet, 
embracing  our  keel,  and  by  its  size  sustain- 
ing us  in  our  perched  condition.  We  had 
settled  but  nine  inches  in  consequence  of  our 
partial  disengagement. 

"Looking  from  the  taifrail  down  the  stern- 
post,  we  can  now  see  the  position  of  this  por- 
tion of  our  brig  distinctly.  A  strip  of  her 
false  keel  has  been  forced  from  its  attach- 
ments, drawing  the  heavy  bolts,  and  tearing 
away  some  of  our  sheathing.  How  far  the 
injury  extends,  whether  the  entire  length  of 
the  brig,  or  through  some  few  yards,  we  can 
not  tell.  It  must  have  occurred  during  the 
great  ice  commotion  of  December  7th  and 
8th.  The  disruption  of  January  no  doubt 
added  to  the  thickness  of  the  underlying 
tables;  but  our  keel  probably  received  its 
shock  at  the  same  time  that  we  received  our 
elevation.     We  have  escaped  wonderfully. 

"June  8,  Sunday.  Even  keel  again! 
Once  more  floating  ship-fashion,  in  a  ship's 
element.  It  was  between  twelve  and  one 
o'clock     this     morning.     Murdaugh     went 


370     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

down  upon  the  fragment,  which  was  still  ad- 
hering to  our  starboard  side.  He  had 
hardly  rested  his  weight  upon  it,  when,  with 
certain  hurried,  scarcely  premonitorj^  grind- 
ings,  it  cleared  itself.  He  had  barely  time 
to  scramble  up  the  brig's  side,  tearing  his 
nails  in  the  effort,  before,  with  crash  and  tur- 
moil, it  tumbled  up  to  the  surface,  letting 
us  down  once  more  into  clear  water.  \Vlien 
I  reached  the  deck,  I  could  hardly  realize 
the  level,  horizontal  condition  of  things,  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  this  up  and  down 
hill  work  so  long. 

"9  P.M.  At  1  o'clock  P.M.  the  wind  fresh- 
ened from  the  northward,  enough  to  make 
sail.  We  cast  off,  and  renewed  the  old 
time  process  of  boring,  standing  irregularly 
among  the  fragments  to  the  southward  and 
eastward.  We  received  some  heavy  bumps, 
but  kept  under  weigh  until  6  p.m.,  when 
an  impenetrable  ice-fog  caused  us  to  haul  up 
to  a  heavy  floe,  to  which  we  are  now  fast  by 
three  anchors.  We  estimate  our  progress 
at  six  miles.     The  Rescue  is  not  visible. 

"From  the  heavy  floe  to  which  we  are  se- 
cured we  obtained  fresh  thawed  water.    This 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     371 

is  the  first  time  since  the  15th  of  September 
that  I  have  drunk  water  liquefied  without 
fire.  Eight  months  and  twenty-four  days: 
think  of  that,  dear  strawberry  and  cream 
eating  family ! 

"We  saw  an  ice-floe  to-day,  which  had 
evidently  come  from  the  upper  northern  re- 
gions of  Wellington,  or  the  North  Baffin's 
Straits.  This  ice,  though  pure  and  beauti- 
ful, could  never  have  been  created  in  any 
single  winter.  It  has  made  me  understand 
for  the  first  time  the  startling  stories  of 
Wrangell.  This  floe  is  now  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fiftj^  yards  long  by  four  hun- 
dred wide;  a  size  too  large  for  infraposition 
of  tables,  while  its  purity  precludes  the  idea 
of  ground  ice.  Its  depth,  ascertained  from 
its  mean  line  of  flotation,  exceeds  forty  feet. 
Its  surface  is  level,  and  the  appearance,  look- 
ing down  into  its  pure  depths,  beautiful  be- 
yond description.  It  forms  part  of  a  gi'eat 
field,  miles  in  circumference,  as  similar  co- 
aptating  fragments  are  seen  in  every  direc- 
tion; the  great  swell  of  the  5th  having  no 
doubt  destroyed  its  integrity.  From  what 
great  winter  basin  comes  this  colossal  ice?" 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


WE  continued  our  progress 
through  a  labyrinth  of  ice, 
sometimes  running  into  a  berg, 
or  grazing  against  its  edge  so 
close  as  to  carry  away  a  spar  or  stave  a  quar- 
ter-boat, but  still  making  our  way  across  to 
the  Greenland  shore.  The  sea  was  studded 
with  low  bergs  and  water-washed  floes, 
wearing  the  fantastic  forms  which  had  sur- 
prised us  the  year  before.  Some  were  both 
comphcated  and  graceful,  supported  gener- 


372 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     373 


ally  by  peduncular  bases,  which  gave  them 
a  curious  aspect  of  fragility.  This  was  evi- 
dently due  to  the  action  of  the  waves  at  the 
water-line, 
aided  by  the 
warmth  of  the  .-^^^^^^^MM. 
atmosphere.  ^ 
If  we  suppose  te 
a  nearly  sym-  "- ^_ 
metrical  lump 
of  ice,  floating  with  that  stable  equilibrium 
which  belongs  to  its  excessive  submergence, 
the  atmosphere,  which  has  now  a  tem- 
perature as  high  as  64°  in  the  sunshine, 
will  gradually  round  off 
and  crease  the  edges,  and 
at  the  same  time  will  melt 
the  portions  of  the  mass 
which  are  above  water. 
Its  buoyancy  increasing 
as  its  weight  is  reduced, 
the  berg  will  now  rise 
slowly,  presenting  a  suc- 
cession of  new  surfaces  to  the  abrasion  of  the 
waves;  and  thus  we  shall  have  the  familiar 
mushroom  or  fungoid  appearance  wliich  is 


374     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

shown  in  many  of  the  plates  illustrating  i^e- 
cuhar  berg  forms. 

The  process  continuing  under  all  the 
modifications  of  wave  action,  while  the  op- 
posing face  of  the  berg  varies  with  every 
change  of  its  gravitating  centre,  w^e  may 
have  eccentric  resemblances  to  animated 
things  sculptured  in  the  ice,  and  at  other 
times  forms  of  classic  symmetry,  or  the  frets 
and  garniture  of  mediaeval  art. 

Our  sail  through  this  fanciful  archipelago 
was  a  most  uncomfortable  one.  Our  stoves 
had  been  taken  down;  and  the  scurvy,  ex- 
aggerated by  the  increased  exposure  to 
damp,  began  again  to  bear  hard  upon  us. 
We  devoured  eagerly  the  seal,  of  which,  by 
good  fortune,  we  had  several  re-enforce- 
ments; but  as  the  excitements  of  peril  de- 
clined, the  energies  of  the  men  seemed  to 
relax  more  and  more;  and  I  had  reason  to 
fear  that  we  should  not  be  able  to  resume  our 
search  effectively,  until  the  health  of  our 
party  had  undergone  a  tedious  renovation. 

It  had  been  determined  by  our  commander 
that  we  should  refresh  at  Whale  Fish  Is- 
lands, and  then  hasten  back  to  Melville  Bay, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     375 

the  North  Water,  Lancaster  Sound,  and 
WeUington  Channel;  and  certainly  there 
was  no  one  on  board  who  did  not  enter  heart 
and  soul  into  the  scheme.  It  was  in  pur- 
suance of  it  that  we  were  now  bending  our 
course  to  the  east. 

The  circumstances  that  surrounded  us,  the 
daily  incidents,  our  destination  and  purpose, 
were  the  same  as  when  approaching  the  Suk- 
kertoppen  a  year  before.  There  were  the 
same  majestic  fleets  of  bergs,  the  same  le- 
gions of  birds  of  the  same  varieties,  the  same 
anxious  look-out,  and  rapid  conning,  and 
feiirlesG  encounter  of  ice-fields.  Every  thing 
was  unchanged,  except  the  glowing  confi- 
dence cf  young  health  at  the  outset  of  ad- 
venture. We  had  taken  our  seasoning:  the 
experience  of  a  winter's  drift  had  quieted 
some  of  our  enthusiasm.  But  we  felt,  as 
veterans  at  the  close  of  a  camj)aign,  that  with 
recruited  strength  we  should  be  better  fitted 
for  the  service  than  ever.  All,  therefore, 
looked  at  the  well-remembered  cliffs,  that 
hung  over  Kronprinsen,  with  the  sentiment 
of  men  approaching  home  for  the  time,  and 
its  needed  welcomes. 


376     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

We  reached  them  on  the  16th.  Mr. 
Murdaugh,  and  myself,  and  four  men,  and 
three  bottles  of  rum,  were  dispatched  to  com- 
municate with  the  shore.  As  we  rowed  in 
to  the  landing-place,  the  great  dikes  of  in- 
jected syenite  stood  out  red  and  warm 
against  the  cold  gray  gneiss,  and  the  moss 
gullies  met  us  like  familiar  grass-plots.  Es- 
quimaux crowded  the  rocks,  and  dogs 
barked,  and  children  yelled.  A  few  lusty 
pulls,  and  after  nine  months  of  drift,  and 
toil,  and  scurvy,  we  were  once  more  on  terra 
firma. 

God  forgive  me  the  revulsion  of  unthank- 
f ulness !  I  ought  to  have  dilated  with  grat- 
itude for  my  lot. 

Winter  had  been  severe.  The  season 
lagged.  The  birds  had  not  yet  begun  to 
breed.  Faces  were  worn,  and  forms  bent. 
Every  body  was  coughing.  In  one  hut,  a 
summer  lodge  of  reindeer  and  seal  skins,  was 
a  dead  child.  It  was  many  months  since  I 
had  looked  at  a  corpse.  The  poor  little 
thing  had  been  for  once  washed  clean,  and 
looked  cheerful.  The  father  leaned  over 
it  weeping,  for  it  was  a  boy;  and  two  little 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     377 

sisters  were  making  lamentation  in  a  most 
natural  and  savage  way. 

I  gave  the  corjjse  a  string  of  blue  beads, 
and  bought  a  pair  of  seal-skin  boots  for 
twenty-five  cents ;  and  we  rowed  back  to  the 
brig.  In  a  very  little  while  we  were  under 
sail  for  Godhaven. 

We  were  but  five  days  recruiting  at  God- 
haven.  It  was  a  shorter  stay  than  we  had 
expected;  but  we  were  all  of  us  too  anxious 
to  regain  the  searching  ground  to  complain. 
We  made  the  most  of  it,  of  course.  We  ate 
inordinately  of  eider,  and  codfish,  and  seal, 
to  say  nothing  of  a  hideous-looking  toad  fish, 
a  JLepo  dog  aster,  that  insisted  on  patroniz- 
ing our  pork-baited  lines;  chewed  bitter 
herbs,  too,  of  every  sort  we  could  get ;  drank 
largely  of  the  smallest  of  small-beer;  and 
danced  with  the  natives,  teaching  them  the 
polka,  and  learning  the  pee-oo-too-ka  in  re- 
turn. But  on  the  22d,  by  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  we  were  working  our  way  again  to 
the  north. 

We  passed  the  hills  of  Disco  in  review, 
with  their  terraced  summits,  simulating  the 
Ghauts  of  Hindostan;  the  green-stone  cliffs 


378     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACE 

round  Omenak's  Fiord,  the  great  dockyard 
of  bergs ;  and  Cape  Cranstoun,  around  which 
they  were  clustered  hke  a  fleet  waiting  for 
convoy.  They  were  of  majestic  propor- 
tions; and  as  we  wound  our  way  tortuously 
among  them,  one  after  another  would  come 
into  the  field  of  view,  like  a  temple  set  to 


AN    ICE    CATHEDRAL. 


be  the  terminus  of  a  vista.  At  one  time  we 
had  the  whole  Acropolis  looking  down  upon 
us  in  silver;  at  another,  our  Philadelphia 
copy  of  the  Parthenon,  the  monumental 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  stood  out  alone. 
Then,  again,  some  venerable  cathedral,  with 
its  deep  vaults  and  hoary  belfries,  would 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    379 

spread  itself  across  the  sky ;  or  perhaps  some 
wild  combination  of  architectural  impos- 
sibilities. 

We  moved  so  slowly  that  I  had  time  to 
sketch  several  of  these  dreamy  fabrics.  The 
one  which  is  engraved  on  the  opposite  page 


THE    GROTTO    IX    THE    BERG. 


was  an  irregular  quadrangle,  projected  at 
the  extremity  of  a  series  of  ice-structures, 
like  the  promontory  that  ends  an  isthmus: 
it  was  crowned  with  ramparts  turreted  by 
fractures ;  and  at  the  water-line  a  great  bar- 
reled arch  went  back  into  a  cavern,  that 


380     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

might  have  fabled  as  the  haunt  of  sea-kings 
or  smugglers.  Another,  much  smaller,  but 
still  of  magnificent  size,  had  been  excavated 
by  the  waves  into  a  deep  grotto ;  and  the  light 
reflected  from  the  bay  against  its  transpar- 
ent sides  and  roofs  colored  them  with  a  blue 
too  superb  for  imitation  by  the  brush  or 
pencil. 

In  the  morning  of  the  24th  we  made  the 
pack ;  more  to  the  south,  therefore,  than  last 
year.  It  appeared  at  first  like  a  firm  neck, 
extending  out  among  heavy  bergs  well  into 
Haroe  Island;  and  remembering  our  last 
year's  experience,  we  moved  cautiously.  But 
after  a  while,  our  captain,  now  perhaps  the 
best  ice-master  afloat,  determined  on  bor- 
ing. The  dolphin-striker  was  triced  up,  the 
boats  were  taken  on  board,  and  the  old 
sounds  of  conning  the  helm  began  again. 
This  time  we  were  lucky.  In  four  hours  we 
were  through  the  tongue  of  the  pack,  and 
out  in  nearly  an  open  sea. 

We  did  not  move  long,  however,  before 
the  navigation  became  embarrassed.  The 
ice  between  Cape  Lawson  and  Storoe  was 
too  compact  to  be  wedged  aside;  and  after 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     381 

some  rude  encounters  with  the  floes,  and  a 
narrow  escape  from  a  reef  of  rocks  which 
Captain  Graah's  charts  do  not  mention,  we 
found  ourselves,  on  the  25th,  nearly  embayed 
by  the  noble  headlands  off  Ovinde  Oerme. 
The  ice,  in  a  horseshoe  curve,  completely 
shut  us  in  to  the  north,  and  the  tongue  of 
the  pack  we  had  come  through  lay  between 
us  and  the  sea.  The  wind  had  left  us.  We 
were  drifting  listlessly  in  a  glassy  sea  that 
reflected  the  green-stone  terraces  and  strange 
pyramidal  masses  of  its  romantic  shores. 

We  amused  ourselves  killing  seals.  There 
must  have  been  hundreds  of  them  of  all  va- 
rieties playing  about  us.  Generally  they 
were  to  be  seen  paddling  about  alone,  but 
sometimes  in  groups,  like  a  party  of  school- 
boys frolicking  in  the  Schuylkill.  One  of 
their  favorite  sports  was  "treading  water," 
rising  breast-high,  keeping  up  a  boisterous, 
indefatigable  splashing,  and  stretching  out 
their  necks,  as  if  to  pry  into  the  condition  of 
things  aboard  ship.  We  compared  their  be- 
havior to  that  of  the  timorous  but  curious  na- 
tives, when  the  Europeans  first  met  them  in 
the  waters  of  America;  and  in  our  inter- 


382     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

course  with  them,  conformed  accurately  to 
the  Spanish  precedent. 

Occasionally  only  we  obeyed  our  "mani- 
fest destiny"  with  reluctance.  Some  of  the 
younger  of  these  poor  sea-dogs  had  over- 
much of  the  honest  expression  of  their  land 
brethren:  the  truncation  of  the  muzzle  in 
others,  with  no  external  ear  showing  behind 
it,  set  their  faces  in  almost  perfect  and  hu- 
man-like oval.  "WTien  one  of  these  would 
come  up  out  of  the  water  near  us,  and,  rais- 
ing his  head  and  shoulders,  that  stooped  like 
those  of  a  hooded  Esquimaux,  gaze  steadily 
at  us  with  his  liquid  eye,  then  diving,  come 
up  a  little  nearer  and  stare  again;  so  draw- 
ing nearer  and  nearer,  diving  and  rising  al- 
ternately, till  he  came  within  musket  range; 
it  sometimes  went  hard  to  salute  him  with 
a  bullet. 

We  shot,  among  others,  a  very  large  beast 
(P.  harhata),  lying  upon  a  floating  piece  of 
ice.  The  captain's  ball  went  through  his 
heart;  and  my  own,  equally  deadly,  wuthin 
a  few  inches  of  it ;  but  the  unwieldy  creature 
continued  struggling  to  reach  the  water,  un- 
til a  shot  from  Mr.  Lovell,  close  upon  him, 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     383 

drove  a  musket-ball  through  his  head.  He 
measured  eight  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  five  feet 
eleven  inches  in  his  greatest  circumference, 
and  five  feet  six  inches  in  girth  behind  the 
fore-flippers.  His  carcass  was  a  shapeless 
cylinder,  terminating  in  an  awkward  knob 
to  represent  the  head. 

We  lost  two  seals  by  sinking.  Hitherto, 
when  killed  on  the  instant  by  perforation  of 
the  brain  or  spinal  marrow,  they  had  invari- 
ably floated.  But  the  rule  does  not  hold  al- 
ways. I  wounded  one  so  as  to  carry  away 
the  crown  of  his  skull,  and  Captain  De 
Haven  gave  him  a  second  shot  from  within 
a  few  yards  directly  through  his  head,  and 
yet  we  lost  him.  As  the  balls  struck,  he  dis- 
charged, almost  explosively,  a  quantity  of 
air,  and  went  down  like  a  loon.  The  whal- 
ers say,  wound  your  seals;  but  my  own  ex- 
perience is,  that,  if  they  are  fat,  it  is  best  to 
kill  them  at  once.  A  Danish  boy,  who  had 
joined  us  by  stealth  at  Disco,  told  us  that  the 
animal's  sinking  was  a  proof  that  he  had  no 
blubber.  He  was  probably  right:  we  cer- 
tainly did  not  secure  any  that  were  in  good 
condition. 


38i     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

The  next  day  gave  us  excitement  of  a 
different  sort.  We  had  been  lying  in  the 
young  ice-field,  close  under  the  southeast 
shore  of  Storoe,  with  the  current  setting 
strong  toward  it,  and  a  grim  array  of  bergs 
to  the  west  of  us.  It  was  an  ugly  position; 
but  we  were  fairly  entangled,  and  there  was 
no  escape.  Early  in  the  morning,  the  wind 
freshened,  and  blew  in  toward  the  island; 
the  ice  piling  against  the  rocky  precipice 
under  our  lee,  and  opening  in  broken  masses 
to  windward.  The  Rescue  managed  to 
make  fast  to  a  crag  between  us  and  the  shore, 
but  our  ice-anchors  missed.  At  four  in  the 
afternoon  we  were  within  rifle-shot  of  the 
land,  and  still  drifting;  the  wind  a  gale,  and 
the  sea-swell  coming  in  heavily. 

We  stopped,  of  course,  or  there  would 
have  been  an  end  of  my  journal.  But  for 
some  hours  things  looked  squally  enough. 
Our  soundings  had  become  small  by  degrees 
and  beautifully  less,  till  they  were  down  to 
thirteen  feet;  and  the  black  wall  looked  so 
near  that  you  could  have  hit  it  with  a  fil- 
bert. It  could  not  have  been  fifty  yards  off, 
when  we  brought  up  on  some  grounded  floe- 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     385 

pieces.  By  eleven,  our  warps  had  headed  us 
to  windward,  and  our  bow  was  off  shore. 
For  once,  at  least,  we  owed  our  safety  to  the 
ice. 

The  Rescue  followed  a  few  hours  after; 
and  we  took  the  direction  of  the  pack  to- 
gether to  the  N.N.W.  By  the  next  day  at 
noon  we  were  within  twenty-three  miles  of 
Uppernavik,  but  a  belt  of  ice  lay  between. 
We  anchored  to  a  berg,  and  for  two  days 
waited  patiently  for  an  opening. 

My  messmates  in  the  mean  time  went  off 
on  a  hunt  to  a  flat,  rocky  ledge,  that  showed 
itself  inshore,  and  I  amused  myself  with  a 
tramp  on  the  ice-island  to  which  we  were 
fast.  I  had  for  company  a  noble  Esqui- 
maux slut,  that  Governor  Moldrup  had  en- 
abled me  to  get  at  Disco,  and  a  dog  of  the 
same  breed  belonging  to  Mr.  Lovell.  I  do 
not  know  what  has  become  of  Hosky,  as 
Mr.  Lovell  named  his  favorite ;  but  my  poor 
Disco  fell  a  martyr  to  our  Philadelphia 
climate  and  his  Arctic  costume  together, 
some  three  days  after  we  got  home. 

I  had  a  quiet  day's  walk.  My  compan- 
ions rambled  with  evident  glee  over  the  peaks 


586     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

and  ravines  of  their  familiar  element.  It 
was  a  magnificent  pile  of  frost-work.  But 
these  crystal  palaces  of  the  ice,  like  every 
thing  else  under  this  northern  sky,  deceive 
one  strangely  in  their  apparent  size.     We 


ICE    BOULDERS. 


thought,  when  we  anchored,  that  the  berg 
was  a  small  one;  yet  we  coursed  more  than 
the  third  of  a  mile  in  almost  a  direct  line  be- 
fore we  reached  its  further  edece. 

The  pure  surfaces  which  we  traveled  over 
were  studded  with  irregular  blocks  of  ice, 
evidently  once  detached   and  cemented  on 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     3^87 

again.  They  varied  in  size  and  shape  from 
a  boy's  playing-marble  to  a  haystack;  and 
by  their  interesting  distribution  suggested 
most  obtrusively  the  question  of  ahnost  every 
Arctic  traveler,  how  such  fragments  find 
their  place  on  the  plateau  surfaces  of  the 
icebergs.  I  had  answered  the  question  for 
myself  before;  but  I  was  glad  to  be  con- 
iu-med  by  the  observations  I  made  in  the 
course  of  this  excursion.  When  first  the 
mass  separates  from  the  land-berg  or  gla- 
cier, it  is  accompanied  by  a  large  quantity 
of  disengaged  fragments,  with  all  varieties 
of  detritus ;  and  during  the  alternate  risings 
and  sinkings  that  follow  the  fall  into  the  sea, 
a  great  deal  of  this  is  caught  by  the  emerg- 
ing surface  of  the  berg,  and  adheres  to  it. 
I  noticed  valleys,  where  the  subsequent  roll 
had  rounded  the  masses,  and  grouped  them 
into  something  resembling  bowlder-drift.  I 
had  seen  similar  valleys  in  some  of  the  large 
bergs  of  Duneira  Bay,  supplying  a  bed  for 
temporary  water-streams,  in  which  the 
bowlders  were  beautifully  rounded,  and  ar- 
ranged in  true  moraine  fashion. 

Off   Storoe,   a  white   fox    (C   lagopus) 


"j. 


388     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

came  to  us  on  the  loose  ice:  his  legs  and  the 
tip  of  his  tail  were  black.  He  was  the  first 
we  had  seen  on  the  Greenland  coast. 

He  was  followed  the  next  day  by  a  party 
of  Esquimaux,  who  visited  us  from  Proven, 
dragging  their  kayacks  and  themselves  over 
seven  miles  of  the  pack,  and  then  paddling 
merrily  on  board.  For  two  glasses  of  rum 
and  a  sorry  ration  of  salt-pork,  they  kept 
turning  somersets  by  the  dozen,  making  their 
egg-shell  skiffs  revolve  sideways  by  a  touch 
of  the  paddle,  and  hardly  disappearing  un- 
der the  water  before  they  were  heads  up 
again,  and  at  the  gangway  to  swallow  their 
reward. 

The  inshore  ice  opened  on  the  thirtieth, 
and  toward  evening  we  left  the  hospitable 
moorage  of  our  iceberg,  and  made  for  the 
low,  rounded  rocks,  which  the  Hosky  pointed 
out  to  us  as  the  seat  of  the  settlement.  The 
boats  were  out  to  tow  us  clear  of  the  floating 
rubbish,  as  the  light  and  variable  winds  made 
their  help  necessary,  and  we  were  slowly  ap- 
proaching our  anchorage,  when  a  rough 
yawl  boarded  us.  She  brought  a  pleasant 
company,  Unas  the  schoolmaster  and  parish 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     389 

priest,  Louisa  his  sister,  the  gentle  Amalia, 
Louisa's  cousin,  and  some  others  of  humbler 
note. 

The  baptismal  waters  had  but  superficially 
regenerated  these  savages:  their  deport- 
ment, at  least,  did  not  conform  to  our  nicest 
canons.  For  the  first  five  minutes,  to  be 
sure,  the  ladies  kept  their  faces  close  cov- 
ered with  their  hands,  only  withdrawing  them 
to  blow  their  noses,  which  they  did  in  the 
most  primitive  and  picturesque  manner. 
But  their  modesty  thus  assured,  they  felt 
that  it  needed  no  further  illustration.  They 
volunteered  a  dance,  avowed  to  us  confiden- 
tially that  they  had  educated  tastes — 
Amalia  that  she  smoked,  Louisa  that  she  tol- 
erated the  more  enlivening  liquids,  and  both 
that  their  exercise  in  the  open  air  had  made 
a  slight  refection  altogether  acceptable. 
Hospitality  is  the  virtue  of  these  wild  re- 
gions: our  hard  tack,  and  cranberries,  and 
rum  were  in  requisition  at  once. 

It  is  not  for  the  host  to  tell  tales  of  his 
after-dinner  company.  But  the  truth  of 
history  may  be  satisfied  without  an  intima- 
tion that  our  guests  paid  niggard  honors  to 


890     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  jolly  god  of  a  milder  clime.  The  veriest 
prince,  of  bottle  memories,  would  not  have 
quarreled  with  their  heel-taps.  *  *  * 

We  were  inside  the  rocky  islands  of 
Proven  harbor  as  our  watches  told  us  that 
another  day  had  begun.  The  time  was 
come  for  parting.  The  ladies  shed  a  few 
kindly  tears  as  we  handed  them  to  the  stern- 
seats:  their  learned  kinsman  took  a  recum- 
bent position  below  the  thwarts,  which  fa- 
vored a  continuance  of  his  nap ;  and  the  rest 
of  the  party  were  bestowed  with  seaman- 
like address — aU  but  one  unfortunate  gen- 
tleman, who,  having  protracted  his  festive 
devotions  longer  than  usual,  had  resolved 
not  to  "go  home  till  morning." 

The  case  was  a  difficult  one ;  but  there  was 
no  help  for  it.  As  the  sailors  passed  him  to 
the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  again  out  upon 
the  beach,  he  made  the  air  vocal  with  his  in- 
dignant outcries.  The  dogs — I  have  told 
you  of  the  dogs  of  these  settlements,  how 
they  welcomed  our  first  arrival — joined  their 
music  with  his.  The  Provenese  came  chat- 
tering out  into  the  cold,  like  chickens  startled 
from  their  roost.     The  governor  was  roused 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     391 

by  the  uproar.  And  in  the  midst  of  it  all, 
our  little  weather-beaten  flotilla  ran  up  the 
first  American  flag  that  had  been  seen  in 
the  port  of  Proven. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  port  of  Proven  is  securely  shel- 
tered by  its  monster  hills.  But 
they  can  not  be  said  to  smile  a  wel- 
come upon  the  navigator.  A  smil- 
ing country,  like  a  smiling  face,  needs  some 
provision  of  fleshly  integuments;  and  no 
earthly  covering  masks  the  grinning  rocks 
of  Proven.  They  look  as  if  the  process  of 
crumbling,  and  wrinkling,  and  splitting,  and 
splintering  had  been  at  work  on  them  since 
the  first  Arctic  frost  succeeded  the  last  meta- 
morphic  fire;  and  even  now  great  ledges  are 
wedged  off  from  the  hillsides  by  the  ice,  and 
roll  clattering  down  the  slopes  into  the  very 
midst  of  the  settlement. 

Summer  comes  slowly  upon  Proven. 
When  we  arrived,  the  slopes  of  the  hills  were 
heavily  patched  with  snow,  and  the  surface, 
where  it  showed  itself,  was  frozen  dry.  The 
water-line  was  toothed  with  fangs  of  broken 
ice,  which  scraped  against  the  beach  as  the 

392 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     393 

tides  rose  and  fell;  and  an  iceberg  somehow 
or  other  had  found  its  way  into  the  little 
port.  It  was  a  harmless  lump,  too  deep 
sunk  to  float  into  dangerous  nearness;  and 
its  spire  rose  pleasantly,  like  a  village 
church. 

"July  3.  I  am  writing  in  the  'Hosky' 
House  of  Cristiansen.  Cristiansen  is  the 
Danish  governor  of  Proven,  and  this  house 
of  Cristiansen  is  the  House  of  Proven.  Its 
owner  is  a  simple  and  shrewd  old  Dane,  hale 
and  vigorous,  thirty-one  of  whose  sixty-four 
winters  have  been  spent  within  the  Arctic 
circle,  north  of  70°  N.  Lord  in  his  lonely 
region — his  four  sons  and  five  subordinates, 
oihnen,  the  only  white  faces  about  him,  ex- 
cept when  he  visits  Uppernavik — the  good 
old  man  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  no 
superior.  His  habits  are  three  fourths  Es- 
quimaux, one-eighth  Danish,  and  the  re- 
mainder Provenish,  or  peculiarly  his  own. 
His  wife  is  a  half-breed,  and  his  family,  in 
language  and  aspect,  completely  Esquimaux. 

"When  the  long,  dark  winter  comes,  he 
exchanges  books  with  his  friend  the  priest  of 
Uppernavik.     'The  Dantz  Penning  Maga- 


394     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

zin,'  and  'The  History  of  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum,'  take  the  place  of  certain  well- 
thumbed,  ancient,  sentimental  novels;  and 
sometimes  the  priest  comes  in  person  to  ten- 
ant the  'spare  room,'  which  makes  it  very 
pleasant,  'for  we  talk  Danish.' 

"Except  this  spare  room,  which  elsewhere 
would  be  called  the  loft  of  the  house,  its 
only  apartment  is  the  one  in  which  I  am. 
And  here  eat,  and  drink,  and  cook,  and 
sleep,  and  live,  not  only  Cristiansen  and  all 
his  descendants,  but  his  wife's  mother,  and 
her  children,  grandchildren,  and  great- 
grandchildren who  are  growing  up  about  her. 
It  is  fifteen  feet  broad  by  sixteen  long,  with 
just  height  enough  for  a  grenadier,  without 
his  cap,  to  stand  erect,  and  not  touch  the 
beams.  The  frame  of  the  house  is  of  Nor- 
way pine  coated  with  tar,  with  its  inter- 
spaces caulked  with  moss  and  small  window- 
panes  inserted  in  a  deep  casing  of  wood. 

"The  most  striking  decorative  feature  is 
a  kdge  or  shelf  of  pine  plank,  of  varying 
width,  which  runs  round  three  of  its  sides. 
Its  capacity  is  wonderful.  It  is  the  sofa  and 
bed,  on  which  the  entire  united  family  find 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     395 

room  to  loll  and  sleep ;  and  upon  it  now  are 
huddled,  besides  a  navy  doctor  and  his  writ- 
ing board,  one  ink  bottle,  sundry  articles  of 
food  and  refreshment,  one  sleeping  child, 
one  lot  of  babies  not  in  the  least  asleep,  one 
canary-bird  cage  with  its  exotic  and  most 
sorrowful  httle  prisoner,  and  an  infinite  va- 
riety of  other  articles  too  tedious  to  mention, 
comprising  seal-skins,  boots,  bottles,  jump- 
ers, glasses,  crockery  both  of  kitchen  and 
nursery,  coffee-pots,  dog-skin  socks,  canvas 
pillows,  an  eider-down  comforter,  and  a  sick 
bitch  with  a  youthful  family  of  whining  pup- 
pies. 

"Una,  the  second  daughter,  has  been  sick 
and  under  treatment;  and  she  is  now  hard 
at  work  with  her  sisters,  Anna,  Sara,  and 
Cristina,  on  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  her  doc- 
tor. They  have  been  busy  all  the  morning 
whipping  and  stitching  the  seal-skins  with 
reindeer  tendon  thread.  My  present  is  to 
be  a  complete  suit  of  ladies'  apparel,  made 
of  the  richest  seal-skin,  according  to  the 
standard  mode  of  Proven,  which  may  always 
be  presumed  to  be  the  'latest  winter  fash- 
ion.'    It  is  a  really  elegant  dress.    To  some 


396     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

the  unmentionables  might  savor  of  mascu- 
larity;  but  having  seen  something  of  a  more 
polite  society,  my  feminine  associations  are 
not  restricted  to  petticoats.  Extremes  meet 
in  the  Esquimaux  of  Greenland  and  Ama- 
zons of  Paris. 

"The  large  family  is  a  happy  one:  so  small 
a  home  could  not  tolerate  a  quarrelsome 
mess.  The  sons,  the  men  Cristiansens,  brave 
and  stalwart  fellows,  practiced  in  the  kayack, 
and  the  sledge,  and  the  whale-net,  adroit 
with  the  harpoon  and  expert  with  the  rifle, 
are  constant  at  the  chase,  and  bring  home 
their  spoil,  with  the  honest  pride  becoming 
good  providers  of  their  household.  And  the 
women,  in  their  nursing,  cooking,  tailoring, 
and  housekeeping,  are,  I  suppose,  faithful 
enough.  But  what  favorable  impression 
that  the  mind  gets  through  other  channels 
can  contend  against  the  information  of  the 
nose!  Organ  of  the  aristocracy,  critic  and 
magister  morum  of  all  civilization,  censor 
that  heeds  neither  argument  nor  remon- 
strance— the  nose,  alas!  it  bids  me  record, 
that  to  all  their  possible  godliness  cleanliness 
is  not  superadded. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK     397 

"During  the  short  summer  of  daylight — 
it  is  one  of  the  many  apparent  vestiges, 
among  this  people,  of  ancient  nomadic  hab- 
its— the  whole  family  gather  joyously  in  the 
summer's  lodge,  a  tent  of  seal  or  reindeer 
skin,  pitched  out  of  doors.  Then  the  room 
has  its  annual  ventilation,  and  its  cooking 
and  chamber  furniture  are  less  liable  to  be 
confounded.  For  the  winter  the  arrange- 
ment is  this :  on  three  sides  of  the  room,  close 
by  the  ledge  I  have  spoken  of,  stand  as  many 
large  pans  of  porous  steatite  or  serpentine, 
elevated  on  slight  wooden  tripods.  These, 
filled  with  seal-blubber,  and  garnished  vnth 
moss  round  the  edge  to  serve  as  a  wick,  unite 
the  functions  of  chandelier  and  stove.  They 
who  quarrel  with  an  ill-trimmed  lamp  at 
home  should  be  disciplined  by  one  of  them. 
Each  boils  its  half -gallon  kettle  of  coffee  in 
twenty  minutes,  and  smokes — like  a  small 
chimney  on  fii'e ;  and  the  three  bum  together. 
There  is  no  flue,  or  fire-place,  or  opening  of 
escape. 

"On  the  remaining  side  of  the  room  stand 
a  valued  table  and  three  chairs;  and  with 
these,  like  a  buhl  cabinet  or  fancy  etagere, 


398     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

conspicuous  in  its  modest  comer,  a  tub.  It 
is  the  steeping- tub  for  curing  skins.  Its  con- 
tents require  active  fermentation  to  fit  them 
for  their  office;  and,  to  judge  from  the  odor, 
the  process  had  been  going  on  successfully." 

We  warped  out  to  sea  again  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  third,  with  our  friend  the  cooper 
for  pilot;  the  entire  settlement  turning  out 
upon  the  rocks  to  wish  us  good-by,  and  re- 
maining there  till  they  looked  in  the  distance 
like  a  herd  of  seal.  But  we  found  no  open- 
ing in  the  pack,  and  came  back  again  to 
Proven  on  the  fourth,  not  sorry,  as  the 
weather  was  thickening,  to  pass  our  festival 
inside  the  little  port. 

Our  celebration  was  of  the  primitive  order. 
We  saluted  the  town  with  one  of  the  largest 
balanced  stones,  which  we  rolled  down  from 
the  cliff  above;  and  made  an  egg-nogg  of 
eider  eggs;  and  the  men  had  a  Hosky  ball; 
and,  in  a  word,  we  all  did  our  best  to  make 
the  day  differ  from  other  days — which  at- 
tempt failed.  Still,  God  iever  bless  the 
fourth ! 

The  sixth  was  Sunday,  and  we  attended 
church  in  the  morning  at  the  schoolmaster's. 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK    399 

The  service  consisted  of  a  long-winded  hymn, 
and  a  longer  winded  sermon,  in  the  Esqui- 
maux— surely  the  longest  of  long-winded 
languages.  The  congregation  were  some 
two  dozen  men  and  women,  not  counting 
our  party. 

We  put  to  sea  in  the  afternoon.  The 
weather  was  soft  and  warm  on  shore;  but 
outside  it  was  perfectly  delightful:  no  wind 
— the  streams  of  ice  beyond  enforcing  a  most 
perfect  calm  upon  the  water ;  the  thermome- 
ter in  the  sunshine  frequently  as  high  as 
76°,  and  never  sinking  below  30°  in  the 
shade.  I  basked  on  deck  all  night,  sleeping 
in  the  sun. 

And  such  a  night!  I  saw  the  moon  at 
midnight,  while  the  sun  was  slanting  along 
the  tinted  horizon,  and  duplicated  by  reflec- 
tion from  the  water  below  it :  the  dark  bergs 
to  seaward  had  outlines  of  silver;  and  two 
wild  cataracts  on  the  shore-side  were  falling 
from  ice-backed  cliffs  twelve  hundred  feet 
into  the  sea. 

July  7.  I  was  awakened  from  my 
dreamy  sleep  to  receive  the  visits  of  a 
couple  of  boats  that  were  working  slowly  to 


400    ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

us  through  the  floes.  An  English  face — 
two  English  faces — twelve  English  faces: 
what  a  happy  sight!  We  had  had  no  one 
but  ourselves  to  speak  our  own  tongue  to  for 
three  hundred  days,  and  were  as  glad  to  lis- 
ten to  it  as  if  we  had  been  serving  out  the 
time  in  the  penitentiary  of  silence  at  Auburn 
or  Sing-Sing.  Their  broad  North  Briton 
was  music.  It  was  not  the  offensive  dialect 
of  the  provincial  Englishman,  with  the  af- 
fectation of  speaking  his  language  correctly; 
but  a  strong  and  m^nly  home-brew  of  the 
best  language  in  the  world  for  words  of  sin- 
cere and  hearty  good-will.  They  had  to 
turn  up  their  noses  at  our  seal's-liver  break- 
fast; but,  when  they  heard  of  our  winter 
trials,  they  stuffed  down  the  seal  without 
tasting  it.  I  felt  sorry  after  they  were  off, 
that  I  had  not  taken  their  names  down  every 
one. 

The  whaling  vessels  to  which  they  returned 
were  in  the  freer  water  outside  the  shore 
stream,  the  Jane  O'Boness,  Captain  John 
Walker;  and  the  Pacific,  Captain  Patterson. 
These  gentlemen  boarded  us  as  soon  as  we 
got  through  the  ice  to  them.     They  thought 


ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  IGE  PACK     401 

our  escape  miraculous ;  and  it  was  some  time 
before  they  found  words  to  congratulate  us. 
*'Augh!"  and  "Wonderful!"  with  a  peculiar 
interchange  of  looks,  was  all  they  said. 

These  burned  children  dread  the  fire ;  and 
their  conversation  opened  our  eyes  to  dan- 
gers we  had  gone  through  half  unconsciously. 
Few  masters  in  the  whaling  trade  but  have 
at  some  time  suffered  wreck.  Two  seasons 
ago,  this  veteran  Patterson  saw  his  ship 
thrust  bodily  through  another,  and  then  the 
transfixed  and  transfixing  vessels  were  both 
eaten  up  together  by  the  gi-eedy  floes.  He 
stepped  from  the  last  remnant  of  his  buried 
sail  on  to  the  hummocks:  "And  that's  a' 
that  e'e  ha'  seen  o'  her!" 

They  left  us  newspapers,  potatoes,  tur- 
nips, eggs,  and  fresh  beef  enough  to  eat  out 
every  taint  of  scurvy!  They  took  letters 
from  us  for  home,  and  cheered  ship  when  we 
parted.  I  must  not  soon  forget  the  Pacific 
and  Jane  O'Boness. 

(Editor's  note.)  The  next  day  they 
made  Uppernavik.  July  and  a  good  part  of 
August  were  spent  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  re- 
turn to  Lancaster  Sound  and  complete  their 


402     ADRIFT  IN  THE  ARCTIC  ICE  PACK 

explorations  in  Wellington  Channel;  but 
the  ships  were  so  beset  with  floes  and  ice- 
bergs that  this  project  had  to  be  abandoned. 
On  August  21st  the  expedition  headed 
homeward,  and  it  arrived  in  New  York  on 
September  30,  1851. 


THE  END 


OUTING 
ADVENTURE 
LIBRARY 

Edited  by  Horace  Kephart 

^  Here  are  brought  together  for  the  first  time  the  great  stories  oi 
adventure  of  all  ages  and  countries.  These  are  the  personal  records 
of  the  men  who  climbed  the  mountains  and  penetrated  the  jungles; 
who  explored  the  seas  and  crossed  the  deserts;  who  knew  the 
chances  and  took  them,  and  lived  to  write  their  own  tales  of  hard- 
ship and  endurance  and  achievement.  The  series  wiU  consist  of 
an  indeterminate  number  of  volumes — for  the  stories  are  myriad. 
The  whole  will  be  edited  by  Horace  Kephart.  Each  volume 
answers  the  test  of  these  two  questions :  Is  it  true?  Is  it  interesting? 
^  The  entire  series  is  uniform  in  style  and  binding.  Among  the 
titles  now  ready  or  in  preparation  are  those  described  on  the  fol 
lowing  pages. 

PRICE  $1.00  EACH,  NET.    POSTAGE  10  CENTS  EXTRA 
THE  NUMBERS  MAKE  ORDERING  CONVENIENT 

1.  IN  THE  OLD  WEST,  by  George  Frederick 
RllXton.  The  men  who  blazed  the  trail  across  the  Rockies  to  the 
Pacific  were  the  independent  trappers  and  hunters  in  the  days 
before  the  Mexican  war.  They  left  no  records  of  their  adventures 
and  most  of  them  linger  now  only  as  shadowy  names.  But  a  young 
Enghshman  lived  among  them  for  a  time,  saw  life  from  their  point 
of  view,  trapped  with  them  and  fought  with  them  against  the 
Indians.  That  was  George  Frederick  Ruxton.  His  story  is  our 
only  complete  picture  of  the  Old  West  in  the  days  of  the  real 
Pioneers,  of  Kit  Carson,  Jim  Bridger,  Bill  Williams,  the  Sublcttes, 
and  aU  the  rest  of  that  glorious  company  of  the  forgotten  who 
opened  the  West. 


2.  CASTAWAYS  AND  CRUSOES.  Since  the  begin- 
nings  of  navigation  men  have  faced  the  dangers  of  Bhipwreck 
and  starvation.  Scattered  through  the  annals  of  the  sea  are  the 
stories  of  those  to  whom  disaster  came  and  the  personal  records  of 
the  way  they  met  it.  Some  of  them  are  given  in  this  volume,  narra- 
tives of  men  who  lived  by  their  hands  among  savages  and  on  forlorn 
coasts,  or  drifted  helpless  in  open  boats.  They  range  from  the 
South  Seas  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  iron  coast  of  Pata- 
gonia to  the  shores  of  Cuba,  They  are  echoes  from  the  days  when 
the  best  that  could  be  hoped  by  the  man  who  went  to  sea  was  hard- 
ship and  man's-sized  work. 

3»    CAPTIVES  AMONG  THE  INDIANS.  First  of  all 

is  the  story  of  Captain  James  Smith,  who  was  captured  by  the  Dela- 
wares  at  the  time  of  Braddock's  defeat,  was  adopted  into  the  tribe, 
and  for  four  years  lived  as  an  Indian,  hunting  with  them,  studying 
their  habits,  and  learning  their  point  of  view.  Then  there  is  the 
story  of  Father  Bressani  who  felt  the  tortures  of  the  Iroquois,  of 
Mary  Rowlandson  who  was  among  the  human  spoils  of  King 
Philip's  war,  and  of  Mercy  Harbison  who  suflfered  in  the  red  flood 
that  followed  St.  Clair's  defeat.  All  are  personal  records  made  by 
the  actors  themselves  in  those  days  when  the  Indian  was  constantly 
at  our  forefathers's  doors. 


4.  FIRST  THROUGH  THE  GRAND  CANYON,  by 

Major  John  Wesley  Powell.  Major  PoweU  was  an  officer  in  the 
Union  Army  who  lost  an  arm  at  Shiloh.  In  spite  of  this  four  years 
after  the  Tvar  he  organized  an  expedition  which  explored  the  Grand 
Canyon  of  the  Colorado  in  boats — the  first  to  make  this  journey.  His 
story  has  been  lost  for  years  in  the  oblivion  of  a  scientific  report. 
It  is  here  rescued  and  presented  as  a  record  of  one  of  the  great 
personal  exploring  feats,  fitted  to  rank  with  the  exploits  of  Pike, 
Lewis  and  Clark,  and  Mackenzie. 

5.  ADRIFT  IN    THE    ARCTIC    ICE-PACK,  By 

Elisha  Kent  Kane,  M.  D.  Out  of  the  many  expeditions  that 
went  north  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin  over  fifty  years  ago,  it  fell 
to  the  lot  of  one,  financed  by  a  New  York  merchant,  to  spend  an 
Arctic  winter  drifting  aimlessly  in  the  grip  of  the  Polar  ice  in  Lan- 
caster Sound.  The  surgeon  of  the  expedition  kept  a  careful  diary 
and  out  of  that  record  told  the  first  complete  story  of  a  Far  Northern 
winter.  That  story  is  here  presented,  shorn  of  the  purely  scientific 
data  and  stripped  to  the  personal  exploits  and  adventures  of  the 
author  and  the  other  members  of  the  crew. 


LOAN  DEPT. 


LD2tA-20rri-3,'73 
(Q8677b10)476-A-31 


General  Library     . 
University  of  California 
Berkeley 


iw317339 


